AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 

Edited by 

Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D. 



JLbc amcrican Crisis Biootapbies 

Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the 
counsel and advice of Professor John B. McMaster, of 
the University of Pennsylvania. 

Each lamo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price 
$1.25 net; by mail, $i.37- 

These biographies will constitute a complete and comprehensive 
history of the great American sectional struggle in the form of readable 
and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the co-operation 
of many competent writers, as will be noted from the list given below. 
An interesting feature of the undertaking is that the series is to be im- 
partial, Southern writers having been assigned to Southern subjects and 
Northern writers to Northern subjects, but all will belong to the younger 
generation of writers, thus assuring freedom from any suspicion of war- 
time prejudice. The Civil War will not be treated as a rebellion, but as 
the great event in the history of our nation, which, after forty years, it 
is now clearly recognized to have been. 

Now ready : 
Abraham Lincoln. By Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer. 
Thomas H. Benton. By Joseph M. Rogers, 

In preparation : 
William T. Sherman. By Edward Robins. 
John C. Calhoun. By Gaillard Hunt. 
Daniel Webster. By Prok. C. H. Van Tyne. 
Alexander H. Stephens. By Louis Pendleton. 
John Quincy Adams. By Brooks Adams. 
John Brown. By W. E. Burghardt Dubois. 
William Lloyd Garrison. By Lindsay Swift. 
Charles Sumner. By Prof. Franklin S. Edmonds. 
William H. Seward. By Edward Everett Hale, Jr. 
Frederick Douglass. By Booker T. Washington. 
Jefferson Davis. By Prof. W. E. Dodd, 
Robert E. Lee. By GuY Carleton Lee. 
David G. Farragut. By John R. Spears, 
Judah P. Benjamin. By Pierce Butler. 
Thaddeus Stevens. By Prok. J. A. WooDBURN. 
Andrew Johnson. By Waddy Thompson. 

To be followed by: 
Henry Clay Edwin M. Stanton 

Stephen A. Douglas Jay Cooke 

U. S. Grant Wade Hampton 

"Stonewall" Jackson 





O^^^a^ 



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AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 



Thomas H: Benton 

by 
JOSEPH M. ROGERS 

Author of " The True Henry Clay," etc. 




PHILADELPHIA 
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



THE Lif'^RY OF 
CONGfitSS. 

Two OoDtM Received 

M*R 2 1905 

^^ Oown«nt Entry _^ 

•opy A. 



Copyright, 1905, by 

George W. Jacobs & Company 

Published February, igo^ 



E 



O 



CONTENTS 



> 





Chronology 


7 


I. 


Youth and Education 


15 


II. 


Early Political Interests in Mis 






SOURI 


28 


III. 


Entry into the Senate . 


39 


IV. 


Finding His Place . 


55 


V. 


Jackson's Eight Arm 


68 


VI. 


The War on Nullification . 


111 


VII. 


The National Bank 


134 


VIII. 


"Old Bullion" 


169 


IX. 


The Oregon Question 


. 194 


X. 


Slavery Agitation and Texas 


. 212 


XI. 


The War with Mexico . 


. 231 


XII. 


The Compromises of 1850 


. 245 


XIII. 


Missouri Repudiates Benton 


. 269 


XIV. 


Friendships and Characteristics 


. 283 


XV. 


Orator and Author 


. 322 


XVI. 


The End 


. 343 




Bibliography .... 


. 350 




Index 


. 352 



CHRONOLOGY 



1782 — Thomas H. Benton born at Hillsborough, N. C, March 
14th. 

1790— Death of his father. 

1798 — Removes with his mother to the wilderness of Tennessee 
to become a cotton planter, 

1811 — Elected a member of the Tennessee legislature. 

1811 — Admitted to the bar in Tennessee. 

1812 — Colonel of militia, but no active service. 

1813 — Brawl with Andrew Jackson. 

1813 — Appointed lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. No 
active service. 

1815 — Eemoves to St. Louis to continue the practice of the law 
and edit the Missouri Enquirer. 

1817 — Duel with Lucas in which latter was killed. 

1820 — Elected United States Senator after having aided at 
Washington in securing the Missouri Compromise. 

1821 — Marries Elizabeth McDowell of Virginia, and takes his 
seat in the Senate. 

1824 — Supports first Clay and then Jackson for the Presidency. 

1826 — Appears as the mutual friend of Clay and Randolph in 
their bloodless duel. 

1828 — Supports Jackson for the Presidency. 

1831 — Attacks the Whig measure renewing the charter of the 
National Bank, and declares for gold as a standard of 
values. 



8 CHRONOLOGY 

1832 — Unsuccessfully fights recharter, but prepares the way for 
Jackson's veto of the bill. 

1833 — Refuses to support the Compromises and conciliate the 
nullifiers. 

1834 — Secures the passage of the bill establishing the specie 
standard. 

1837 — Secures paasage of resolutions expunging from the records 
of the Senate the vote of censure passed upon President 
Jackson. 

1842— Fights Clay's new bank bill. 

1843— Narrowly escapes death in the explosion on board the 
Princeton. 

1845 — Opposes the immediate annexation of Texas as tending 
to reopen the slavery question and is tricked by Tyler. 

1847 — Rejection of bill to make Benton lieutenant-general and 
the principal commander in the Mexican war. 

1850 — Oppases the great compromises. 

1850 — Defeated for his sixth terra in the Senate because of his 
refusal to bow the knee to the slaveholders in Missouri. 

1851 — Closes his career in the Senate after thirty years of use- 
fulness. 

1852 — Elected to the House of Representatives from a St. Louis 
district. 

1854 — Defeated for relection to the House because he would not 
sacrifice his principles to the Know Nothings. Death of 
Mrs. Benton. 

1856 — Defeated as an independent candidate for governor of 
Missouri. 

1858 — Dies at Washington from cancer, April 10. 



INTRODUCTION 

The fame of Thomas H. Benton has suffered 
almost total eclipse. This is the more to be regret- 
ted because he was one of our most substantial 
statesmen, in merit and achievement outstripping 
many whose names are more familiar. He sat for 
thirty consecutive years in the United States Senate, 
a record never reached before the Civil War, and 
since then seldom surpassed. Much of this time 
he was a commanding figui-e, sometimes dominant 
and always useful. Over all of his contemporaries 
he had the advantage of a clearer view of the great 
problems of the age, because unvexed by ambition : 
in uprightness and purity of character he was ex- 
celled by none. The names of Clay, Webster and 
Calhoun are household words and their careers are 
well known. Benton served longer than any one of ~^ 
them, is responsible for more sound legislation than 
all of them put together, yet only the student of 
history knows anything about him. 

This is due to a number of causes. The Senate 
in his day was not a forum where enduring fame 



10 INTRODUCTION 

was created, unless by that exceptional oratory 
which he did not possess. He spoke oft^n and ou 
nearly every question of the day, but his words are 
no longer remembered. The great triumvirate al- 
ready mentioned owe their reputations less to actual 
work in the Senate than to outside political activ- 
ity, each striving long and unsuccessfully for the 
presidency. More potent is the fact that Benton 
died just before the Civil War. That great conflict 
stands as a barrier across the history of the country. 
It brought more or less enduring fame to some war- 
riors and civilians, but shut out forever many sound 
statesmen. Benton died fighting for the preserva- 
tion of the Union : had he lived five years longer 
he must have become still more conspicuous and 
have remained to fame as one of the most striking 
figures in our national life. His political career 
began with the passage of the Missouri Compromise, 
and practically closed with its repeal. He ever 
denied that there was any cause for civil war, and 
gave up his seat in the Senate, almost as dear to 
him as life itself, because he would not bow the 
knee to the slaveholdiug oligarchy which had 
finally gained political control of his beloved Mis- 
souri. One word would have saved that seat and 
prolonged his life, but he would not utter it. He 



INTEODUCTION 11 

was the first conspicuous martyr to the Union 
cause. 

It is to the extraordinary career of this man that 
these pages are dedicated. No one can have a cor- 
rect perspective of the history of the country with- 
out some appreciation of the position of this un- 
compromising advocate of the Union during the 
thirty years' growth of the slavery issue in politics. 
Webster and Clay were compromisers seemingly for 
the sake of preferment. Calhoun was the arch-nul- 
lifier. Benton was a bulwark of uncompromising 
unionism from a slave state for almost forty years, 
and when he died the nation lost one of its truest 
servants, one of its best men. 

It would be idle to impute perfection to Benton. 
He was exceedingly human and had many defects. 
He was not a brilliant genius but, what was better, 
a sound statesman. His abilities were conspicuous 
and he was offered many positions in the Cabinet, 
in the diplomatic corps and elsewhere, but he re- 
fused them all. The only place he coveted was at 
the head of the army for which he was thrice 
scheduled, but fortunately the post was never be- 
stowed upon him. Imperfectly educated in the 
schools, by ceaseless industry he became a widely 
read scholar, though somewhat inclined to pedantry. 



12 INTRODUCTION 

He had tremendous passions ; in his youth he en- 
gaged iu brawls and in early manhood killed his 
antagonist in a duel, an event which marked a 
change in his life. It has been common to speak 
of him as a Western statesman, indicating that his 
sectionalism limited the range of his views and ac- 
tivities. He is so reckoned by writers who speak 
of Clay and Webster as national statesmen. This 
is a grave mistake. Much of the legislation origi- 
nated or endorsed by these two giants was either 
sectional or transitory. Benton was more truly a 
national legislator. His nickname," Old Bullion," 
stamps him as the father of the sound currency sys- 
tem of this countrj', while his land policy was more 
truly national than that of some of his opponents, 
as will develop later in these pages. 

These introductory words are written to stimulate 
the interest of the untutored reader who may think 
it hardly possible that Benton is worthy of study. 
As the series of biographies, of which this is one, 
is to deal with the men who first and last figured in 
the great conflict over African slavery we may say 
here, what the following pages are expected to 
demonstrate, that Benton was one of the most im- 
portant factors in the contest. Those who give 
Clay unstinted praise for his love of the Union — so 



INTRODUCTION 13 

great tliat his dead bones kept Kentucky from se- 
cession, — seem to forget that in Missouri Benton, 
though dead, also kept his state in the Union at a 
most perilous time. The loss of Missouri in 1861 
would have been an almost fatal blow to the Union. 
That it was finally preserved was due in no small 
measure to the bitter war that Benton waged so 
long against disunionists, and though his personal 
fortunes and his life were swept away in the contest 
before the clash of arms, his spirit survived to 
conquer. 

Lastly it should not be forgotten at a time when 
the nation has so recently celebrated the centennial 
of the Louisiana Purchase, that Benton was the first 
as he was the greatest of the statesmen that have 
arisen west of the Mississippi, and that the devel- 
opment of the Purchase, the acquisition of the 
Pacific slope and the construction of the first trans- 
continental railway are due more to his influence 
than to that of any other single man. 



THOMAS H. BENTON 



CHAPTER I 

YOUTH AND EDUCATION 

Even if interesting it would be foreign to the 
purpose of this work to dwell long on the youth of 
Thomas H. Benton. It was not different from that 
of thousands of other men in an age which was 
crude as to civilization, but potent in building up 
masterful character. Of Benton's ancestry, on his 
father's side, little is known. "We shall see later 
how under unusual circumstances John Randolph 
furnished him with a crest and putative family tree 
establishing his connection with the landed gentry 
of England. But Benton cared for none of these 
things. He went back no farther than his grand- 
father, who settled in North Carolina. 

His father, Jesse Benton, a loyalist in the Revo- 
lution, secretary to Governor Try on, was a promi- 
nent lawyer in Hillsborough, Orange County, North 



16 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Carolina, where Thomas was born March 14, 1782, 
the eldest of a family of eight children. Jesse 
Benton who was a man of unusual scholarship, 
well-read in five languages, died when Thomas was 
only eight years old. He left some property in 
what is now North Carolina, but his chief asset 
was a large tract in Tennessee (then a part of North 
Carolina), whither the family eight years later re- 
moved. 

To his mother Benton always gave the credit of 
his success in life, and in so far as it could be 
attributed to any one other than himself, the appre- 
ciation was just. She was born Ann Gooch, of a 
good Virginia family and was a remarkable woman. 
She was a Eoman mother in the best sense of the 
term, looking upon the education of her children 
as the prime duty of her life and nobly carrying 
out her plans. Perceiving the natural abilities of 
Thomas, she early destined him for a public career 
and her greatest joy in later years was to see him 
become one of the leading statesmen of the country. 
She herself long remained a beautiful woman and 
Benton was very proud of her. No sacrifice for her 
comfort was too great, and in her great age she truly 
said that no mother ever had a more devoted son. 

Thomas, who at eight was learning Greek, was 



YOUTH AND EDUCATION 17 

early sent to a grammar school and for a time to 
the University of North Carolina, a feeble institu- 
tion according to modern standards ; but before he 
had completed the course the family removed to 
the wilderness of Tennessee where his mother be- 
lieved the children would have greater opportunities 
in life. 

The "Widow Benton's Settlement" consisted of 
3,000 acres, and a claim on some 40,000 acres in the 
wilderness twenty -five miles south of Nashville on 
the very frontier of the Indian country and along 
the great war trail which the aborigines followed in 
war paint when attacking the whites or other native 
tribes. In those days pioneering involved rela- 
tively less courage and self-sacrifice than now, but 
at best the task was a severe one from which Mrs. 
Benton never flinched. Her settlement was made 
on a considerable scale. Slaves cleared the forests, 
tilled the soil, erected the household dwellings, a 
log schoolhouse and a rude church which itinerant 
Methodist clergymen used occasionally. Mrs. Ben- 
ton abandoned the Episcopal for the Methodist 
Church, which almost alone kept the lamp of relig- 
ion burning on the frontier. Thomas continued his 
education as best he could, reading widely, study- 
ing law and teaching. 



18 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Responsibilities were early laid on his shoulders. 
Soon after his father died, his mother gave him one 
of the babies and told him he must be a father to it 
and serve as the head of the family. Eight loyally 
did he carry out the injunction. He was devoted 
to his sisters and their refining influence was noted 
all through his life. In his old age his grand- 
childien one evening were complaining that they 
could not sing well as the guitar was out of tune. 
The septuagenarian took the instrument, tuned it 
properly and handing it back, said, '' I always used 
to play and sing with my sisters and I have never 
forgotten how." He was passionately fond of 
music and missed no opportunity to hear the best 
singers until his wife's illness led him to give up all 
public amusements. 

Five of the eight Benton children died of con- 
sumption. Thomas was supposed to be certain of 
the same fate, but at the outbreak of the War of 
1812 he became imbued with the martial spirit and 
at once entered upon a regimen which resulted in 
complete cure and which is so close to that recom- 
mended by physicians to-day as to be worth re- 
peating : ''Open air night and day. Abundant 
perspiration from steady exercise. Bathing and 
rubbing always, if possible, in sunshine. Simple 



YOUTH AND EDUCATION 19 

food regularly taken and to forget yourself in some 
pursuit." It is said that lie induced many to follow 
this regimen, and like himself they were cured of the 
disease. 

Cotton planting was one of the chief industries 
of Tennessee. At the start most of the Benton plan- 
tation was devoted to this produce, as was customary 
at that time. One year an early frost ruined the 
crop. Never thereafter would Benton risk all his 
fields in one staple, and labored most unsuccessfully 
to get his neighbors to adopt rotation. 

In 1807 he wrote to a friend saying: "I am 
become a right man of business, and want advance- 
ment wherever it can be found." Just why he 
lacked advancement in Tennessee is not easily 
understood. He was in prosperous circumstances, 
but it is probable that he preferred law to planting, 
and thought Tennessee a poor field for that pro- 
fession. The country was crude and litigation not 
extensive, while there were already at Nashville 
several prominent lawyers. 

The first autobiographic glimpse we get of him is 
in his description of the life and services of Jack- 
son.' He tells us he was seventeen when he first 

'Thomas H, Benton, "Thirty Years' View of the United 
States Senate," Vol. I. 



20 THOMAS H. BENTON 

saw sitting on the bench the man with whose for- 
tunes in later years his own were to be closely 
linked. He did not make Jackson's acquaintance 
until the latter had left the bench and Benton was 
practicing at the bar to which he was admitted in 
1811. He was junior counsel in a case involving a 
friend of Jackson's, and freeing his man was warmly 
complimented by the former j udge, who at this time 
lived at the "Hermitage" and supposed himself 
retired from public life. At the outbreak of the 
War of 1812 Jackson was elected major-general of 
the militia by one majority. On what small things 
do great events sometimes depend. Had not that 
one vote been available Jackson might have died a 
respected planter, known as a man who had once 
been a judge and an Indian fighter and for nothing 
else except a violent temper. His ambition for ap- 
pointment to a post in the regular army met an 
unexpected obstacle when Harrison and Winchester 
were selected from the West, and he was passed 
over by the administration. It was young Benton 
who suggested to Jackson that the thing to do was 
to raise a brigade and practically force the nation 
to accept it. 

Benton had the pen of a ready writer and was 
vain in youth and even afterward of his coraposi- 



YOUTH AND EDUCATION 21 

tions. It occurred to him that it would be a good 
idea for Jackson to issue to the troops an address, 
which would attract the attention of the national 
authorities. He wrote such an address and took it 
to Jackson to read and sign, if he chose. He found 
the doughty general by the kitchen fire with his 
adopted son, less than two years old, and a lamb 
between his knees. Jackson explained to his 
visitor that the little boy had cried because the 
lamb was out in the wet, so he had brought it in 
and they were having a sort of "family party." 
This was a case of the lamb and the lion lying down 
together, and it throws a side-light on the character 
of Jackson which is interesting. The address was 
signed, Jackson eventually got his place in the 
service and Benton was for a time his aide-de- 
camp. 

Acting upon his own advice Benton also raised a 
regiment and among his corporals was a long, lank 
young man named Sam Houston of whom the country 
was to hear much and who was the colleague and 
closest friend of Benton in his last years. It was 
never called into active service, much to his regret, 
for he was anxious for military adventure, and to 
the end of his life thought he would have made a 
good soldier, outranking both Scott and Taylor. 



22 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Later on in the War of 1812 he was appointed a 
lieutenant-colonel in the regular army and started 
for Canada, but peace came too soon for him even 
to see a battle. 

It was during this period (September 4, 1813) 
that he came into collision with General Jackson in 
a way that interrupted their friendly relations for 
many years. It is commonly said that Benton 
fought a duel with Jackson, but, more properly 
speaking, the affair was a barroom brawl. Benton's 
brother Jesse had been involved with William 
(afterward General) Carroll in an "affair of 
honor" in which Jackson had seconded the latter. 
In the angry dispute which followed, Thomas 
Benton, though then serving on Jackson's staff, 
espoused his brother's cause and the result was a 
fracas involving the four above mentioned persons 
and some others. Jackson struck Jesse Benton 
with his horsewhip and was promptly shot in the 
shoulder. In the general meUe which followed, 
knives, pistols and clubs were used, Jesse Benton 
receiving serious wounds, while Thomas was 
knocked down-stairs. It was long before the ani- 
mosities thus aroused were assuaged. 

After the War Benton resolved to remove to St. 
Louis, which was then a small village, but pros- 



YOUTH AND EDUCATION 23 

pects seemed brighter there than in Tennessee. He 
had already served a term in the legislature of the 
latter state, where two conspicuous pieces of legis- 
lation were placed to his credit.' He reformed the 
antiquated judiciary laws, and secured the right of 
trial by jury to slaves. The latter was his first 
public act in relation to an institution with which 
he was to be prominently identified for the next 
fifty years. 

In 1815 he arrived in St. Louis, opened a law 
office and began the publication of the Missouri 
Enquirer, which became a bold and vigorous news- 
paper. Now thirty-three years old, he was coura- 
geous, self-reliant, and well equipped for the 
ordinary practice of the law. As land titles were a 
conspicuous subject of litigation, owing to the vague 
and overlapping grants under Spanish and French 
rule, he began the study of the subject with that 
tireless industry and talent in grasping first prin- 
ciples which characterized his whole life. He be- 
came an accomplished Spanish scholar, acquiring 
knowledge which was of great value to him later 
when we had our troubles with Mexico ; delved into 
dusty manuscripts ; and in a few years became the 
leading land lawyer of the state, winning, for those 
•Benton's "View." 



24 THOMAS H. BENTON 

days, enormous fees which were judiciously in- 
vested, so that after he entered public life and gave 
up absolutely his law practice, these savings were 
practically all he had aside from his meagre salary. 
In youth he was grave in demeanor, though quick 
to perceive and resent an affront. Owing to his 
mother's request he never used liquor or tobacco 
and did not gamble. This was astonishing in an 
age and in a section where these practices were 
scarcely looked upon as vices. His reputation for 
morals and good breeding was blemished, however, 
by his pugnacious disposition. An aged Georgian 
some years ago stated that in his youth in Tennessee 
he frequently saw Jackson and Benton with cocks 
under their arms engaged in a favorite pastime of 
that region. ' As Benton denies, with some warmth, 
that Jackson ever kept game-cocks, it would seem 
as if he wished to deny the imputation on his own 
account. But in one respect he was notable. 
Dueling was much in vogue in those days, though 
declining in the East since the death of Alexander 
Hamilton. Before he was elected to the Senate, 
Benton never failed to call out his man on occasion 
or respond to a call from another. The climax was 
reached in 1817, when articles in his newspaper and 
» Col. A. K. McClure, " Recollections of Fifty Years." 



YOUTH AND EDUCATION 25 

harangues at the bar, couched iu that vigorous, 
intemperate language for which he later became 
famous, brought on a duel with a young United 
States District Attorney named Charles Lucas. 

According to the latter, the affair started in 1816, 
in a case before a jury in which he and Benton 
were on opposite sides. The lie was passed and 
Benton sent a challenge, but Lucas declined on the 
ground that he had been sustained by the verdict 
of the jury in the case, and he did not consider the 
controversy as coming within the code. Thereupon 
Benton is accused of using very bad language 
about Lucas to his face and behind his back, so the 
young man finally challenged. They fought on 
Bloody Island, iu the Mississippi, at ten paces, and 
both were wounded, Lucas severely, Benton very 
slightly. Neither party was satisfied, and Benton 
challenged to another meeting. This was arranged 
to take place at ten feet. The men fired simulta- 
neously and Lucas fell. Benton then expressed re- 
gret and asked forgiveness, to which Lucas at first 
replied, "O Benton, you have persecuted me and 
murdered me. I do not and cannot forgive you." 
Later, however, when nearly gone, Lucas said, ''I 
can forgive you, I do forgive you," and died. 
This was on September 27, 1817, the blackest day 



26 THOMAS H. BENTON 

iu Beuton's life. He destroyed all the papers con- 
nected with the duel, which is unfortunate, as those 
of his opponent have been preserved. Although 
we may well suppose that he had some provocation, 
his propensity for fighting was such as to make the 
blame rest largely on his shoulders, especially as he 
was ten years the senior of Lucas. The fatal out- 
come of the affair had such an effect upon him, 
however, that he never again went to the "field of 
honor." 

It can be said that Benton was loose and violent 
in the expression of his views, and that whatever 
his virtues, consideration for others never belonged 
in his repertory. A contemporary and friend says 
that as editor of the Missouri Enquirer, Benton was 
"careless in the use of strong language, and was 
frequently led into fierce altercations and disputes ' ' 
because he thought so strongly and wrote so un- 
qualifiedly. These traits were characteristic of him 
during most of his life. He was incautious and 
violent, but never affected by ignoble motives. 
Though he did not fight again, he remained a be- 
liever in the code and was esteemed the highest au- 
thority on those complicated points of honor which 
it involved. Often in later life he was called upon 
to draw some fine distinction or to give some opin- 



YOUTH AND EDUCATION 27 

ion, and though, he always counseled peace, he can- 
not be said to have done very much to overthrow 
the institution by his example, however much he 
regretted and inveighed against the evil. 

Hereafter Benton's career was to be national. 
His equipment was naturally good, and by inces- 
sant study of literature, men and events, he per- 
fected it as much as circumstances would allow. 
He had followed the development of American 
civilization from the '^Old North State" through 
Tennessee, and now was to become a constructive 
statesman, the greatest who has hailed from beyond 
the borders of the original territory of the United 
States. 



CHAPTER II 

EARLY POLITICAL INTERESTS IN MISSOURI 

The unusual condition whereby Missouri was 
admitted to the Union, familiarly known as the 
Missoui'i Compromise, was the first act of Congress 
to restrict the territorial extension of African 
slavery after the re-enactment of the Ordinance of 
1787, which forever prohibited slavery in the 
Northwest Territory. It long remained a fruitful 
source of political and moral contention and its 
repeal, followed by a declaration of the Supreme 
Court in the Dred Scott case in 1857, that it was 
from the beginning unconstitutional, was an active 
agent in bringing on the Civil War. 

The history of Missouri does not belong to this 
work, but a glance at it is necessary to understand 
Thomas H. Benton. The country was originally 
explored by French missionaries, and was long in 
control of Spain or France, during which time al- 
most the sole occupation of the settlers was trading 
in furs with the Indians. After the purchase of 
Louisiana, St. Louis, at the mouth of the Missoui'i, 



EAELY POLITICAL INTEEESTS 29 

became the business centre for the upper portion of 
the territory and in the divisions which followed, 
the northern section was gradually advanced 
through the three grades of territorial rank to the 
highest. The population increased rapidly after 
the Lewis and Clark expedition, sent out by Presi- 
dent Jefferson in 1803 to secure information regard- 
ing [our new dominions. These explorers were 
absent for two years on a journey that took them 
to the head waters of the Missouri and to the far 
northwest "where rolls the Oregon." The fur 
trade grew and after there were 20,000 inhabitants, 
application was made (in 1818) for the admission 
of Missouri to the Union, the boundaries being 
those of the present state minus the extreme north- 
western portion called the Platte Tract which was 
added later. The early administration of the terri- 
tory had been not altogether happy and the con- 
fusion over land titles was great, until Congress 
tardily passed a law to confirm the French and 
Spanish grants. This action was taken largely 
through the influence of Benton after he reached 
the Senate. 

There was delay over the admission of the state 
because of the slavery question. In the North the 
restriction of the evil was becoming both a moral 



30 THOMAS H. BENTON 

aud a political issue. How many statesmen were 
moved by each consideration it is hard to deter- 
mine, though it cannot be denied that some of the 
most violent restrictionists said openly that it was 
principally a matter of jjolitics. New England had 
fought desperately against the puixhase of Louisi- 
ana because it seemed to involve a redistribution 
of political power. There was undoubtedly some 
growing moral opinion on the extension of slavery, 
and as the Ohio line was fixed as its upper bound- 
ary by the Ordinance of 1787 it was not unnatural 
that Northern people should desire to see that line 
extended. The South' s objection was that it got so 
small a share of the new territory. When the first 
Missouri bill appeared in Congress, Tallmadge, of 
New York, ofifered in the House an amendment as a 
condition precedent to admission specifying "that 
the further introduction of slavery or involuntary 
servitude shall be prohibited, except for crime, etc., 
and that all [negro] children born within the state 
after the admission thereof, shall be free at the age 
of twenty-five years." This amendment passed 
the House and was rejected by the Senate, Congress 
adjourning without final action. The subject be- 
came a dominating one in politics. Alabama was 
admitted with slavery, Arkansas was soon orga- 



EAELY POLITICAL INTERESTS 31 

uized as a territory with slavery, but the great 
struggle centred in Missouri. 

When Congress met in December, 1820, the 
House still favored restriction but the Senate was 
against it. Some of the ablest statesmen of the old 
Federalist school thought the proposed restriction 
wrong, particularly as slavery already existed in 
Missouri, and was rapidly growing stronger : the 
limitation therefore seemed an unnecessary and 
onerous hardship. The greater portion of the Mis- 
souri whites came from Kentucky, Tennessee and 
other slave states. In 1820 there were 66,000 peo- 
ple in the state of whom 10,000 were slaves. The 
local sentiment of Missouri which in earlier times 
had been somewhat favorable to restriction changed 
under Benton's leadership and the constitutional 
convention was, with a single dissenting vote, 
unanimous for unrestricted slavery and went far- 
ther, aiming to prevent the residence of free negroes 
in the state. Congress was now greatly embar- 
rassed. At this time there was an exact numerical 
balance between the free and the slave states. To 
admit Maine (formerly a part of Massachusetts) as 
a free state and virtually compel Missouri to 
abandon slavery meant a vital disturbance of that 
perfect balance which Southern statesmen were 



32 THOMAS H. BENTON 

coming to thiuk more and more essential to the 
preservation of the Union. By this time the mask 
was thrown ofi", and the restrictionists openly 
avowed that their object was political power, 
though there were many earnest anti-slavery peo- 
ple both in and out of Congress. A new bill to ad- 
mit Missouri was rejected by the House, largely on 
the alleged ground that the provision as to free 
negroes was unconstitutional, and partially because 
many members objected to that provision which 
forbade the legislature to interfere at any time in 
the matter of slavery. This last provision was the 
work of Benton who was equally opposed to slav- 
ery agitation and slavery extension, as he repeated 
nearly every day of his life until the end. As 
slavery existed in Mis.souri he did not at that time 
care to interfere with it, though later he was the 
leader in a movement for gradual emancipation. 

The Senate favored admission and the House was 
still against it, when Henry Clay came to the front 
with his first compromise. It was effected solely 
through his agency, though curiously enough he 
always denied being its author. He offered a reso- 
lution in the House for the appointment of a select 
committee to confer with a similar one from the 
Senate to devise a plan to meet the existing situ- 



EAELY POLITICAL INTERESTS 33 

ation. These committees framed a compromise by 
which Missouri was admitted with slavery on con- 
dition that tlie restriction as to free negroes should 
be inoperative (a provision which was in any event 
clearly unconstitutional) ; but the rule was made 
absolute that thereafter no state created out of the 
Louisiana Purchase north of thirty-six degrees and 
thirty minutes, the southern boundary of Missouri, 
should be admitted with slavery. As a corollary, 
Maine was admitted as a free state, indeed could 
have been admitted on no other terms, as Massa- 
chusetts would have allowed her to depart only to 
preserve the balance which was a part of the 
political program. Slavery agitation in politics 
was then hushed for a decade. It can be said that 
the Missouri Compromise, which was to a great 
extent the work of Benton, came to be looked upon 
by the people with the same sacredness as the 
Constitution itself. Every attack upon it met with 
resistance from the South as well as from the North. 
In fact it was a Southern measure and it boded ill 
for the South that it was later willing and anxious 
to repudiate it. 

Thus Missouri entered the Union under very 
unusual circumstances. The state was young, re- 
sourceful and growing rapidly. With the Missis- 



34 THOMAS H. BENTON 

sippi marking one border and the Missouri flowing 
across it, comuiimicatiou by natural means was 
more ample than in any other state. Agriculture 
was the chief industry' of course, but fur dealing was 
still profitable. The salt springs were a source of 
wealth, the lead mines were being worked largely, 
and with the remarkable increase in the number of 
steamboats, commerce was growing rapidly. The 
outlook for the future was therefore excellent. Few 
realize what an enormous state in wealth and popu- 
lation Missoui-i is to-day. St. Louis and Kansas 
City are well-known marts, but with the people as 
a whole there is ignorance of the present power and 
riches of the state which the Louisiana Purchase 
Exposition has only partially removed. In 1900 its 
rank was fifth in population, but the density was 
only about one-half that of Illinois and one-third 
that of New York. Its undeveloped area largely 
exceeds that of any of the states which outrank it in 
population, and its total area is greater than that 
of any one of them. 

When Benton arrived in St. Louis he perceived 
the potentialities of Missouri and saw the lines 
along which its development must proceed. He 
did not possess the " glorious gift of imagination" 
but he had intelligence and was confident of the 



EAELY POLITICAL INTEEESTS 35 

future. He threw himself into the fight for what 
seemed to him the correct policy on slavery with 
such vigor that he became in a few years the 
dominating power, and was soon chosen one of the 
state's first senators, receiving four re-elections. 

The first senatorial contest came at the time of the 
application of the state for admission into the 
Union in 1818, and Benton, who was a newcomer, 
was not one of those selected. At the next election, 
he was nominated for the office by State Senator 
Boone, who was a son of the renowned Daniel 
Boone, the pathfinder of Kentucky. Daniel had 
been a friend of Benton's father and the act of the 
younger Boone in forwarding his interests Benton 
never forgot. 

It was not until the last moment, however, that 
Benton expected to be the choice of the legislature. 
He had been in the state for so short a time that his 
candidacy was not taken very seriously by himself 
or any one else. Indeed, his election was in a way 
accidental. The legislature met in a tavern in St. 
Louis in 1820 and David Barton, the most popular 
man in the state, was elected on the first ballot 
almost without opposition. For the second senator- 
ship there were several candidates, the most promi- 
nent being Judge Lucas, whose son had been killed 



36 THOMAS H. BENTON 

by Benton in the duel already described. After 
many ballotings which led to no result and in 
which were apparent no " corrupt intriguas, manip- 
ulations and slush money" according to an eye- 
witness, Senator Barton was consulted as to his 
choice of a colleague. He picked out Benton who 
at once gained a commanding lead, but still for a 
long time there was no election. One friend of 
Benton was sick, but even if he were present 
another vote was needed. The last man to be 
whipped in was Marie Philip Le Due, who had said 
he would lose his right arm rather than vote for 
Benton. The story, as told in Switzler's " History 
of Missouri," ' is that he was interested for himself 
and others in the old French and Spanish land 
grants. It was shown to him that while Lucas by 
his decisions had been opposed to those claims, 
Benton as the most successful land attorney in the 
territory had defended them ; a vote for Benton was 
a vote for the grants. This decided him and he 
changed his mind and kept his arm. Before the 
la.st ballot was cast four stalwart negroes bore the 
sick member already mentioned on a stretcher to 
the hall, where he voted for Benton and was carried 
back to die. This was Benton's only serious con- 
' q. V. with complete ficcount of duel and election. 



EARLY POLITICAL INTERESTS 37 

test until 1850 wheu he lost his seat. For the next 
four terms Missouri re-elected him without more 
than a formal vote. 

Before leaving for the Senate he gave up all his^ 
many and valuable clients involved in land grants, 
for he was determined to secure legislation on the 
subject. As he favored the validation of the claims 
he considered it improper to have monetary in- 
terest in the matter, nor would he recommend to 
his clients any lawyer to take his place in looking 
after their affairs. In this as in every matter 
affecting his financial interests he was throughout 
his life the soul of honor. He might have become 
very wealthy without the slightest infraction of 
modern moral and financial standards, as his infor- 
mation was not only always early but his con- 
viction about the future of the country was deeper 
than that of any of his contemporaries. Lest it 
should be said that he was affected in any way by 
personal interest he avoided even the appearance 
of evil.' 

It may seem extraordinary that a stranger should 

have made such rapid progress as had Benton in 

five years. Under any circumstances he must have 

forged rapidly to the front but he arrived in Mis- 

1 Roosevelt, " Life of Thomas H. Benton." 



38 THOMAS H. BENTON 

souri at what is now termed the *' psychological 
momeut." The territory was yearuiiig for state- 
hood, the population was miscellaneous in every 
respect and was rapidly growing and needing 
leadership. Through his newspaper, on the stump 
and at the bar Benton made himself felt from the 
start. He was courageous, self-reliant and ener- 
getic. He had a sort of audacious wit and a not 
over-refined satire which delighted the people of his 
section. He led the fight for unrestricted slavery at 
a time when the opposition seemed likely to win. 
His personality soon began to dominate the politics 
of the whole territory and his election as a senator 
was a just reward for his many services. 



CHAPTEE III 

ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 

When in 1821 Benton took his seat in the Sen- 
ate of the United States, he was thirty-nine years 
of age and had passed almost exactly one-half the 
years allotted him. Of those remaining, thirty 
years were to be spent in the Senate, two in the 
House, a few in writing and his last days in an 
effort to stem the tide of disunion. 

Soon after his election he married Elizabeth 
McDowell, who was of a distinguished Virginia 
family. Four daughters and two sous were born of 
this union. 

Upon his entry into the Senate he assumed the 
manners of the older time. In speech, except under 
excitement, he was dignified; in deportment, some-^ 
what stilted; and it must be confessed there was an 1 
air of egotism about him that was not entirely/ 
pleasing. He had been as carefully trained as cir- 
cumstances allowed, and his sudden rise to fame 
may have given him an unduly exalted idea of his 
own importance. His equipment may seem de- 
fective, viewed by modern standards, but he was 



40 THOMAS H. BENTON 



L 



^indoubtedly above the intellectual stature of most 
\statesmen from the West, and he grew steadily. 
His industry was untiring. He devoted the hours 
which others spent in carousing, to the study of 
public matters until he became a mine of informa- 
tion and his practical wisdom was almost pro- 
verbial. He represented his constituents more satis- 
factorily than a man apparently better equipped. 
/He was a sound lawyer, and although he assumed an 
/ aristocratic and, after a time, a patronizing air, he 
I was on the whole a simple-hearted man, and in 
I after years many coming young statesmen owed a 
ygreat deal to his kindness. 

Much of the time for a year before he was per- 
mitted to take his seat, he had been at the national 
capital, and was thus made familiar with the pecul- 
iar conditions which then existed in national 
politics, at this time entering upon a new era. 
Monroe, who was just beginning his second term, 
was the last of the Eevolutionary "Fathers" to be 
President, the last with ambitions in that direction. 
{ The coming group of statesmen were Americans in 
the sense that their education had been gained under 
the national flag, though some years were to elapse 
before one born an American citizen should be 
chosen chief magistrate. 



ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 41 

Monroe entered on his second term considerably 
embarrassed. Three members of his cabinet were 
candidates for the succession ; John Quincy Adams, 
John C. Calhoun, and William H. Crawford. He 
resolved to be absolutely neutral and carried out 
this policy to an extraordinary degree, — in fact 
greatly overdoing the matter since his own admin- 
istration was interfered with by the rivalries in his 
official family. He would have done better to dis- 
miss them all and let them settle their differences 
beyond the limits of the public service. 

John Quincy Adams was the natural successor 
according to the ethics of the time, which made the 
Secretary of State a president in waiting. Every 
president after Washington had been at the head of 
the department of foreign affairs with the excep- 
tion of the elder Adams. The younger Adams was 
the best equipped man of the three by reason of his 
experience and was ambitious for promotion. 
From the age of fourteen he had been more or less 
active in the public service, was a ripe scholar and 
a sound statesman. Much of the credit of Monroe's 
administration was due to his successful manage- 
ment of foreign affairs at a time when they were 
peculiarly difficult. 

Calhoun, as Secretary of War, was still young 



42 THOMAS H. BENTON 

and a Dational figure. It is a strange fact that he 
and Adams were close friends, and that the Massachu- 
setts statesman, who was far from being sympathetic 
as a rule, was warmly drawn to his young colleague 
from South Carolina, having had at one time a 
thought of asking him to run with him as vice- 
president until it was known that he was ambitious 
for higher honors. 

William H. Crawford, of Georgia, was the poli- 
tician par excellence of the times, the first to 
work himself into great prominence as a ''ma- 
chine" politician, in the present meaning of the 
term. He had a giant frame, a well-trained in- 
tellect and personal magnetism of an extraordinary 
kind. He drew men to him, not so much by his 
principles or his views on public questions, as by 
his personal characteristics and promises of sup- 
port. So great had been his influence that it was 
even proposed that he be a candidate for president 
in 1820 against Monroe, but this he refused to do 
on the ground that Monroe was entitled to a second 
term and probably also because he knew that he 
could not have won had he entered the race. He 
was less of a statesman than either Adams or Cal- 
houn, but he had had broad experience in political 
affairs, and was taking advantage of that growth 



ENTEY INTO THE SENATE 43 

of democracy which, beginning under Jefiferson, 
was now rapidly extending. 

Somewhat to anticipate the course of events, it 
may be said here, and in this connection, that two 
other candidates soon appeared in the field, Henry 
Clay and Andrew Jackson. 

Henry Clay was a man of unbridled ambition, 
who had been awaiting his chance, and it now 
seemed the time for him to enter the lists. He had 
quarreled with Adams at Ghent ' and though cog- 
nizant of his abilities held him personally, by 
reason of his Puritanism, in rather low esteem. 
Clay was soon launched as a candidate, but he had 
a comparatively small following, in spite of his 
career in the Senate and the House, of which he 
had been the Speaker during nearly the entire 
period of his membership. He looked to getting the 
support of those who should prove unavailable, 
rather than to building up an active constituency 
of his own. He naturally counted on a good deal 
of favor in the West, but he was soon eclipsed by 
the rising star of Jackson. 

Andrew Jackson is one of the most peculiar men 
in all our history. Defectively educated, reared in 
a rude school, he had little experience in public 

' Adams' Diary. 



44 THOMAS H. BENTON 

affairs of the uation except as a soldier, in which 
capacity he developed a positive geuius for success 
with iucideutal talent for getting into trouble with 
the civil authorities. He was, however, the expo- 
nent and the embodiment of the rising tide of 
American democracy as opposed to the culture, 
education and experience of the older communities. 

It is difficult for us in these days to estimate the 
excitement and disgust caused among statesmen of 
the old school by the announcement that he had 
determined to enter the contest. Up to this time 
service in civil affairs was considered a »uie qua non 
for preferment. It is true that Washington's 
military services were his chief claim to the 
gratitude of the country, but he was in a class 
by himself. All others had risen gradually and 
had earned their promotion. 

The singular fact about these five candidates was 
that they were all Republicans, alleged followers of 
Jefferson. Adams had been a Federalist and was 
almost ostracized in New England for adhering to 
the new order of things. The rest were and had 
alwaj's been Democrats, as we now understand the 
term, though it did not come into general use until 
after the election of Jackson. None of them could 
raise any especial banner of principles ; none had a 



EXTEY IKTO THE SEI^ATE 45 

distinct political program to announce as opposed 
to the others, though Clay and Adams were the 
most liberal in their views of the Constitution. 
In time Calhoun withdrew to accept second honors, 
but the other four fought the contest to its end, and 
the rivalries thus engendered occupied most of the 
political activities of Monroe's second term, all 
legislation being variously viewed as it affected the 
candidacy of one or all of the aspirants. 

Benton's entrance into public life was coincident I 
with this centrifugal condition of politics, and it \ 
inhered to his advantage that he hitched his wagon ^ 
to the Jackson star very early in his career. We 
have seen that he had been embroiled with this 
soldier in youth, but the very bitterness of their early 
antagonism seems to have cemented more firmly 
their later friendship, which is one of the most im- 
portant in all our history, since it resulted in enters 
prises of great pith and moment. 

The issues which were before the country at the 
time Benton took his seat in the winter of 1821 
were many. The country had passed through a 
severe financial crisis ; the government could not 
raise sufficient ordinary revenue for its expenses ; 
banks generally, outside of New England, had sus- 
pended specie payments ; the public lands were 



46 THOMAS H. BENTON 

sold on unfavorable terms stimulating unfortunate 
speculation and discriminating against the actual 
settler ; the country was aroused over the Texas 
question, Monroe, on the advice of the southern as 
well as the northern members of his cabinet, having 
failed to embrace the opjDortunity to annex that 
territory ; internal improvements caused vexation 
of spirit ; the slavery extension question was not yet 
entirely forgotten; while the South American revo- 
lutions were making it apparent that we must soon 
take an important stand in that part of the world. 
These things were giving Monroe and the people a 
good deal of food for thought while the politicians 
were studying them for their own purposes. 

J It is to Benton's credit that from the very start 
he made a stand in favor of a sound currency, 
— for coin rather than notes of any kind. Be- 
fore he took his seat, Congress had been obliged 
to cut down expenses wherever possible, especially 
in reference to the army, navy and fortifications, and 
even then it was compelled to borrow a large sum of 
money to carry on the government. The land bill 

iof which Benton was one of the chief instigators, 
changed our whole policy on that subject. 

(Before this time land had generally been sold in 
large tracts and on credit. Too confident invest- 



ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 47 

ors would buy large lots, make small initial pay- ' 
ments and then fail later ; so that it was often 
necessary to give extensions or to withdraw 
patents, in which case litigation resulted and the 
titles were clouded. Benton's policy was to sell the 
laud for cash at a maximum of $1.25 an acre ; to give 
preference to the actual settler ; and to let those who 
had made small payments on large lots concentrate ] 
them on smaller sections and secure a complete title, i 
This policy he had preached in his newspaper, on ' 
the stump and in the lobby, while he was waiting to ; 
get his seat in the Senate. Though the measui-e 
seems to have been devised originally by Crawford, 
and was introduced before Benton became a member, 
he was active in aiding its passage and after get- 
ting his seat his energy never abated until he ) 
secured the pre-emptive right of the settler to his 
lands, a measure that has perhaps been of more 
value to this country than any other dealing with j 
public property. It made settlement easy and the 
forests soon rang with the axes of the sturdy pio- 
neers who pushed westward to get the new lands, 
picking out the rich prairie fields where a liviug i 
came from a mere tickling of the surface of the * 
soil. 
One result of this liberal policy of the govern- 



48 THOMAS H. BENTON 

ment M'as that iu a short time suflicieut revenue was 
obtained to pay off the entire debt and leave a 
large surplus iu the Trt^asury. The country grad- 
ually recovered from its financial depression and 
the service of the United States Bank in assisting 
in this work was one of the questions soon to be in- 
jected into national politics, and a subject on which 
Benton had most positive convictions. 

As an expansionist, Benton was utterly unfettered 
except by practical conditions. He lamented the 
loss of Texas, and was ever foremost in explaining 
to the "effete East" that the possibilities of the 
West were unlimited. Though he represented 
Missouri directly his eyes were constantly turned 
toward the West, and especially the Northwest. 

He advocated the construction of a military road 
to New Mexico which was finally accomplished, and 
was instant in season and out of season in urging 
the government to secure a firm hold on the Oregon 
country.' Astor had founded a trading post there 
and the Lewis and Clark Expedition had given the 
United States a title to the country that only needed 
to be strongly pressed against the shadow^' claims 
of Great Britain. 

This territory, however, was of about as little 
•Beuton's "Thirty Years' View." 



ENTEY IKTO THE SENATE 49 

interest to the nation at large as is Greenland at the 
present day, it being the general opinion that it 
involved too much money to hold what no one 
would ever desire except as a hunting-ground for 
fur-bearing animals. Such seeming short-sighted- 
ness is not to be wondered at so much when we 
consider that in Benton's first term there were not 
over one hundred thousand white persons west of 
the Mississippi. Benton, however, did not hold 
any such view. He seems to have had the eagle 
eye of prophecy. What he wrote in 1822 now reads 
almost like recorded history. He foresaw the ex- 
pansion of the country, though he could not antici- 
pate its swiftness or the exact causes which were to 
bring it about. He therefore put all his immense 
energies into the task of saving Oregon and finally 
succeeded. In one of his first speeches he urged that 
the Pacific coast of this country was soon to become 
neighbor to Asia and advised sending ministers to 
the Emperors of China and Japan, a proposal that 
was then considered almost as humorous as it would 
be now to advocate sending one to Mars, ' He fairly 
made the hair rise on some of the older senators' 
heads by predicting that in a century there would be 
as many persons living west of the Eocky Mountains 
'Benton's "View," Vol. I. 



50 THOMAS H. BENTON 

as then inhabited the whole United States. That 
prophecy has not yet come true but it" is measiu"- 
ably near realization and it may be that per- 
sons now living who kneAv Benton will see the 
day. 

He did not think it possible at that time, how- 
ever, to extend the boundaries of the country di- 
rectly to the Pacific. As easy communication with 
the Oregon country could not be maintained, since 
the Rocky Mountains were our uatiu'al barrier, 
his idea was to hold it, believing that in time 
there would be erected an independent state which 
would become an ally of this republic and perhaps 
eventually join the Union. Before long, wlu-n the 
"iron horse" had greatly changed social con- 
ditions, he foresaw that the Rocky Mountains need 
not be the natural obstacle he had earlier assumed 
they would be, and to no one is the construction of 
the first transcontinental railway due so much as to 
him. 

While the measures which have been mentioned 
were national in scope and redounded to tlie bene- 
fit of the whole country, Benton, in urging their 
adoption, was not without regard for the interests 
of Missouri. That state was then the outpost 
of the frontier./ Her territory extended farther 



ENTEY mTO THE SENATE 51 

west than that of any other state, and as the coun- 
try expanded she was the first to come into touch 
with the new territories, whereby she soon enjoyed 
a vast increase in her trade. 

One of the crying abuses of the West was the 
monopoly of salti There were saline springs in 
Missouri withheld from sale by the government and 
leased to politicians and their favorites on terms 
which created an odious monopoly. It may seem , 
a small thing in this day, but salt was a burning 
question in politics for one hundred years. It 
entered into the very first tariff bill and was fiercely 
fought over in the McKinley Bill a century later; 
since which time it seems to have lost much of its 
importance, owing to changes in commercial and 
other conditions. In the early part of the nine- 
teenth century it was a very expensive article of 
everyday life. Transportation was costly. In a 
rude country where every farm was a sort of 
microcosm, salt was necessary to preserve the meat 
put down for winter use, and was one of the very 
few things the settler could not do without. In 
making salt more plentiful and cheaper, by securing 
the adoption of the rule that the springs should be 
sold to the highest bidder without corrupt par- 
tiality, Benton not only performed an act of states- 



52 THOMAS H. BEKTON 

manship but endeared himself to his constituents 
in a way that his generation never forgot. 

Although a free-trader, especially in the later 
years of his life, he was sagacious enough in the 
perfection of tariff bills always to work for the 
interests of his own constituents, as in demanding a 
duty upon lead. 

His ideas were also turned toward the develop- 
ment of river navigation in Missouri, and he was 
willing to vote money to clear the snags and sand- 
bars from the Mississippi, which he was pleased to 
regard as a national highway, when he was opposed 
to digging a canal or building a turnpike. 

It is easy to say that this was because Missouri 
was interested much in the one and very little 
in the other, and undoubtedly there is a good deal 
of truth in the statement. We all of us very 
clearly see things we desire to see, and it was no 
strain on Benton's reasoning powers to argue 
that the natural highways of commerce which 
largely appertained to the whole nation were in a 
difiereut category from roads running through in- 
dividual states. Indeed when he came to advocate 
the construction of the great road to New Mexico 
he replied to all charges of inconsistency by saying 
that the proposed improvement went entirely 



ENTEY INTO THE SENATE 53 

through federal territory and did not touch any 
state. This may now seem to us a narrow reason- 
ing but it sufficed at a time when men were de- 
lighted to make a fetich of the Constitution and be- 
lieved or acted as if they thought that the country 
were made for that instrument and not the re- 
verse. 

Considering the times in which he lived, Benton 
was a man of great liberality of view. He was emi- 
nently practical and ever tried to impress upon his 
fellows that the imaginations of their hearts were 
too continually evil, and that many of the woes they 
anticipated could come only because they were con- 
stantly expected. As a rule he labored in vain. 
The man who had decided that the Constitution 
meant such and such a thing was not to be turned 
from his course, even if the Eepublic fell, especially 
when he could see that his interests lay on the side 
of his interpretation. And it often came to pass 
that his interests unconsciously guided his direc- 
tion of thought. When churchmen in New Eng- 
land and elsewhere fell into the most violent con- 
troversies over the exact meaning of some text of 
Scripture, dividing families, separating old friends, 
and arousing bitternesses of the most intense sort, 
it is not to be wondered at that the politicians de- 



54 THOMAS H. BENTON 

voted days aud nights to a study of the Constitu- 
tiou either to discover what it actually meant, or to 
prove that it meaut the specific thing they desired 
it to mean. 



CHAPTER IV 

FINDING HIS PLACE 

When in the last Monroe administration Ben- \ 
ton was obliged to take sides on the great question I 
of the succession, he decided first in favor of Clay. J 
He was a relative of Mrs. Clay and he had a 
great admiration for the Kentucky statesman who 
was moreover the candidate par excellence of the 
West at the outset. No sooner was Jackson in the 
field than Benton redoubled his efforts, since he 
had not yet become reconciled to that early antag- 
onist who still carried in his arm the bullet of his 
brother, Jesse Benton. As fate would have it, Ten- 
nessee had a vacancy in the Senate, and Andrew 
Jackson was chosen to fill it. When he arrived 
to take his seat in the body of which twenty odd 
years previously he had been a member for a short 
time, the only vacant chair was beside Benton. 
This was at first embarrassing to both and except 
for the most formal recognition they remained un- 
conscious of each other's presence until they were 
chosen to serve on the same committee. Then 



56 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Jackson opened the way to more informal inter- 
course which Benton at first stiffly refused. But 
both were men of innate courtesy, and it was not 
long until they had exchanged cards and established 
social relations, at length becoming the warmest 
friends in politics which this country has ever 
known.' 

This condition of affairs did not at the time affect 
the position of Benton as to the presidency. He was 
in favor of Clay so long as the latter had a chance 
to win. It soon appeared, owing to the peculiar 
political treacheries of the time, that Clay was 
fourth on the list (though he would have been third 
had promises been kept), and was therefore consti- 
tutionally eliminated from the contest. 

Benton then turned his attention to Crawford, 

but that statesman had been attacked by paralysis 

and it was evident that he could not win in any 

/event. As between Adams and Jackson, he pre- 

I ferred the latter both because he was a western man 

1 and because the sentJToenJLof^Mfissouri was in his 

favor. The contest was settled in the House of Kep- 

resentatives and here the vote of that state was 

cast by John Scott who was its sole representative. 

This member, under the influence of Clay, had gone 

* Parton'a " Life of Andrew Jackson." 



FINDING HIS PLACE 57 

over to Adams, much to the displeasure of Bentou. 
He threatened Scott to no advantage and Missouri 
voted for Adams who was elected. It was quite 
natural that Clay should cast his influence in the 
Massachusetts man's favor, seeing that in general 
the two were more nearly in political accord than 
any other combination of candidates. Out of that 
contest flowed the dominating currents in politics 
for many years to come. ' 

The fact that Adams' election was so warmly 
contested rendered his position weak, but he pro- 
ceeded to make the situation worse by naming 
Clay for Secretary of State, thus originating the 
'' Corrupt Bargain" story which followed Clay so 
long as he lived and which at least once defeated 
him when nominated for president and perhaps 
twice prevented him from getting the nomination 
when he could have been elected. 

In order to make Adams unpopular a trick was 
resorted to which was ignoble but suf&cient for the 
purpose required. Long after it was known that 
Clay's influence would be cast for Adams, but be- 
fore the final vote, an anonymous letter appeared in 
a Philadelphia newspaper announcing that a corrupt 
bargain had been made whereby Clay would be- 
* Parton's " Jaokaon." 



58 THOMAS H. BENTON 

come Secretary of State. Clay was perfectlj'^ sin- 
cere in his denunciation of this statement and in 
his announcement that he would call the author of 
the libel to the "field of honor." Very soon, IMr. 
Kremer, a member of the House from Pennsylva- 
nia, announced himself as the signer of the letter; 
but Clay was so thoroughly convinced that it was 
X^repared by others much higher in the councils of 
the Jackson party that he refused to accept such a 
subterfuge, and declined to challenge the Pennsyl- 
vanian. Under the code of the times this act put 
Clay at a disadvantage, and it is hard to see under 
the circumstances how he later consented to accept 
the post and thus appai-ently carry out the exact 
terms of the bargain. ' 

Adams lacked common sense or he would never 
have made the ofler. Clay was too high strung to 
refuse it, though he accepted against his inclinations 
and only at the earnest advice of his friends. Both 
were conscious of innocence in the matter and 
were too proud to stoop to conquer public applause 
by seeming to run away from a libelous publica- 
tion. When the nomination of Clay was sent into 
the Senate it wjis confirmed, but it set the seal of 
disapproval on the administration. After that 
' Niles' Register : 1825, 



FINDING HIS PLACE 69 

there was no possibility that Adams could succeed 
himself, and little chance that Clay could escape 
condemnation, as in fact he did not. 

Benton was not one who believed in the story of 
the corrupt bargain by which Clay was said to have 
bartered his votes for the premiership. Clay told 
him early in the contest that he favored Adams, 
and Benton gave this information currency in the 
newspapers and in conversation. Hereafter the 
great Missourian followed the Jackson star and 
succeeded in most of his political undertakings so / 
long as it was in the ascendant. This was not so , 
much because he was dominated by Jackson as be- 
cause in those jiarticular lines in which he was most 
interested Benton was able to dominate the Demo- 
cratic leader. The two men were diametrically 
opposite in most respects and yet there were points 
of contact in their natures which served to make 
the dual alliance of great import to the country. 

Benton was now beginning to find his true place 
in the Senate. He was vain of his oratory for 
very insufficient reasons and customarily had his 
speeches printed for circulation in Missouri. His 
first check came from the venerable Rufus King, 
then in his last years in the Senate, who had served 
his country for five decades and was, with Nathaniel 



60 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Macon, a survivor of the Revolutionary period. 

This arch Federalist came over to Benton one day 
•after he had made a bitter speech against the 
jChesapeake canal appropriation (which Monroe 
/later vetoed) and spoke to him with the authority 
land tenderness of a father. He remarked that 

while he had watched Benton's rising powers with 

interest and admiration, and believed he had a 

f ' 

' great future before him, his attitude of assumed 

i 

; authority and defiance sat ill upon the older mem- 
bers. This rebuke was given with such dignity 
and real concern that it touched Benton's heart 
at once and he wrote his wife fully of the incident, 
saying that he would not publish the speech which 
had been criticised and would endeavor to amend 

I his temperament. He succeeded partially, though 
it was not until many years later that he mellowed 
and assumed toward the younger members of the 
Senate the same attitude which King had adopted 
toward himself. ' 

At the opening of Congress in the December of 
Adams' administration the Senate was found to be 
strongly opposed to the President. This was largely 
the result of the bitterness which arose from the 
settlement of the election and the appointment of 
• Benton's" View." 



FINDING HIS PLACE 61 

Clay. The House was on the side of Adams, show- 
ing that so far as the popular will could be ex- 
pressed, the people were with him, although the 
situation changed at the next election and Adams 
never was able to secure from Congress that legisla- 
tion which he so greatly desired. 

The first matter of great public moment con- 
cerned the Panama Congress, the subject of so 
many brilliant expectations, though it turned out to 
be so complete a fiasco. The intention of the 
South Americans who originated the idea was to 
call a meeting of representatives of all the American 
republics in an attempt to bring about closer com- 
mercial and political relations, provide for the com- 
mon defense against foreign aggression, and estab- 
lish certain rules among themselves which in so far 
as the contracting parties were concerned should 
have the effect of international law. This was a 
brilliant conception, one which appealed to the 
imagination of many Americans and to no one 
more than to Secretary Clay. Adams of course 
was in favor of the enterprise because when he was 
Secretary of State he had been largely responsible 
for the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine. 
Viewed as an abstract proposition it seemed to have 
everything to commend it, but in an age when there 



62 THOMAS II. BENTON 

were no railways, telegraphs, cables, or ocean steam- 
ships, there were more difficulties to overcome than 
appeared on the surface. 

In the first place, few of the Latin republics were 
firmly established. There was little educated intel- 
ligence among the people and already the revolu- 
tionary spirit which has continued to this day had 
begun to manifest itself. The possibility of the na- 
tions agreeing to anything that should be respected 
by all, or which recalcitrants could be compelled to 
respect, seemed to practical minds very small in- 
deed. Moreover there were many who felt that the 
Monroe Doctrine must not be pushed too far. 
Benton believed (and affected to think that Adams 
took the same ground) that we never had done and 
never could do mori; than protect our own borders 
from European colonization, but this narrow inter- 
l)i'etation is absurd since it needed no special mes- 
sage of the President to state such a proposition. 

The crisis was reached when the names of dele- 
gates to the Panama Congress were sent to the 
Senate by the President. This action i)recipitated a 
fracas of large dimensions. In the debates which 
followed it is fair to sujjpose that some of the oppo- 
nents of the administration believed they were talcing 
the only logical ground, but it is certain that politics 



FINDING HIS PLACE 63 

had a great deal to do with the matter. Objection 
was entered at once that the President had no right 
to make such nominations without the previous 
authorization of Congress and information was 
asked as to the nature of the proposed mission and 
the subjects that the delegates from the United 
States would be likely to discuss. The President 
replied in a dignified letter stating that commercial 
relations, contraband and neutral goods in war, 
foreign aggression, the relations with Cuba, and 
such matters were to be treated. 

The peculiar fact about this answer was that it 
eliminated one subject which had been named by 
the South Americans and which had caused great 
excitement all over the United States — namely the 
status of Haiti. At that time the negro republic 
had been in existence for some years but there had 
never been any but commercial relations between it 
and us. We had some trade but no consuls or min- 
isters were sent by either nation to the other. 
Indeed the slaveholders were filled with fear when- 
ever they thought of the horrors of the negro re- 
bellion whereby Toussaint L'Ouverture drove out 
the French with such terrible slaughter and estab- 
lished a government. There was constant apprehen- 
sion that such an experiment might be repeated in 



64 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

this country. The South and Central Americans 
were moved by no such considerations. There were 
negroes and mulattoes among the generals and 
statesmen of those countries and they were consid- 
ered to be on an equal footing with those of proud- 
est Castilian blood. The Latin republics were will- 
ing to enter into relations with Haiti and this very 
fact made many of the senators from our Southern 
states look askance at the proposition. 

Benton delivered a speech at this time in which 
he called attention to the omission in Adams' letter 
and denounced a congress to be held in Panama 
where matters pertaining to the interests of the 
United States should be discussed, — that could not 
be discussed in Washington. ' It cannot be said that 
in this matter Benton acted with his usual sound 
judgment. He unintentionally took exactly the 
course which he later so roundly denounced in others, 
— that of stirring up sectional strife on the slavery 
question. Benton, however, was deeply engrossed 
in politics and was willing to do anything reasona- 
ble to drive the administration to the wall. 

The debate finally produced nothing of impor- 
tance but the duel between Clay and Eandolph. 
In this duel Benton acted as the mutual friend of 

'See chapter on " Benton as Author and Orator," poaaim. 



FINDING HIS PLACE 65 

both and an arbiter in all matters pertaining to the 
code. It was a bloodless affair and a reconciliation 
followed. Eandolph had desired Benton to act as \ 
his second but under the code the relationship I 
of the latter to Mrs. Clay made it impossible./ 
Eandolph, to show his appreciation of Benton's 
services, had made for him a gold seal on which 
was engraved a crest furnished by the obliging Col- 
lege of Heraldry in London and said to belong to 
the family. Benton laughed at the crest and an 
alleged family tree of distinguished membership 
but wore the seal until his death. 

The Panama Commission was finally authorized, 
but it was more than sixty years before such a Pan- 
American Congress met and then it did so in Wash- 
ington where much less was accomplished under 
happier auspices than was proposed in 1825. 

During Adams' entire administration there was 
no other thought on the part of the opposition than 
of making Jackson president in 1828. Clay was 
eliminated ; Calhoun was content for the present 
with the vice-presidency, seeing that the Jackson 
wave was rising, and hoping to succeed him. Clay 
was of course in favor of his chief but the fight 
against Adams was concentrated and bitter. The 
election was a foregone conclusion. Jackson 



66 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

easily won the electoral college and his showing in 
the popular vote was very respectable. Had 
Adams refrained from appointing Clay, had he 
been possessed of a more engaging personality, had 
he been less disposed to lecture Congress collec- 
tively and the members individually, he might possi- 
bly have been reelected ; though on the whole it seems 
certain that the march of democracy was so rapid 
that his reelection was never for an instant possible. 
The growth of the West, the unfettering of restric- 
tions on voting in the Eastern states, the belief in 
the righteousness and power of pure democracy — 
all joined to make Jackson the candidate and se- 
cured his election. 

This was one of New England's darkest hours. 
Twice she had seen her presidents rej ected. The first 
time John Adams, one of the greatest of her sons, 
was discarded for Jefferson who was considered an 
atheist, a revolutionary, and a dangerous man gen- 
erally. The New Englanders had indeed seen the 
country barely survive the shock of his administra- 
tion for Mr. Madison's war was its direct inherit- 
ance. Now another Adams met a similar fate and 
they could scarcely believe that civilized government 
would withstand the blow resulting from the pro- 
motion of a backwoods militia general to the presi- 



FIXDIXG HIS PLACE 67 

dency. With all his faults Jefferson was a gentle- 
man ; here was a man who was rude, almost bar- 
barous. 

Benton had no faith in such pessimism. He was 
a democrat at heart and with all his personal van- 
ity he expected to see democracy rise triumphant 
on the ruins of federalism, Eastern formalism and 
the prejudices of the old republicans. None re- 
joiced more than he when Jackson won and to no 
person during his eight years of incumbency was 
the hero of New Orleans more beholden than to the 
man whom he had earlier met in deadly combat in 
a street brawl. ' 

^ Koosevelt's " Life of Benton." 



CHAPTER V 

JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 

"The reign of Andrew Jackson" lasted from 
1829 to 1841. During the last four years Van 
Buren was in the White House and his career was 
a stormy one ; but the whole period was dominated 
by Jackson's policies and, so far as the triumvirate 
of Clay, Calhoun and Webster permitted, Jackso- 
nian legislation was enacted. It was during this 
period that Benton's most serious work was done. 
During most of the time he was Jackson's right 
arm and led the Jacksonian interest in the Senate, 
though for a while it was a minority as against the 
triumvirate. In this era Benton was intimately 
connected with four great matters of public policy. 
They were : 

Nullification and the Tariff, 
Destruction of the National Bank, 
The Specie Standard, 
The Distribution of the Land Surplus. 

There were many other issues of minor kinds but 



JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 69 

these were the most important and they furnished 
the material for political discussion until the Mexi- 
can War brought forward new ones. 

Benton originated only one of the policies of the 
administration, but he fought out all of them in the 
Senate. Without his aid Jackson would have soon 
come to grief. Although he was a devoted follower 
of his chief, Benton never claimed to be his mouth- 
piece and rather resented such a notion, for he de- 
clared that he was independent and wished it to be 
understood that he decided every question on its 
merits. This disguise was thin as in those days a , 
man must be either for Jackson or against him ; he •' 
could not be lukewarm. It was as a fighter that 
Benton excelled. He never equivocated, never 
compromised, never became discouraged by defeat. 

At the outset of the administration Benton was 
much distressed over Jackson's high-handed deal- 
ing with the patronage. In these days we are apt 
to consider that ''Old Hickory" was the greatest 
foe of civil service reform that ever lived ; that he 
was the originator of the principle, if not the ex- 
pression, 'Ho the victors belong the spoils." This 
is true only in the sense that he overrode all previ- 
ous traditions and made more changes than all his 
predecessors combined. It must not be understood, 



70 THOMAS H. BEATON 

however, that he was ruthless in his decai)itation8. 
In the departments involving the judicial functions 
of the nation, even as touching land commissions 
and the like, he made almost no removals and only 
then for cause. Benton did his best to show that 
Jackson was not so bad as he was painted, but with 
no great success, since the changes which he made 
created as much excitement as if a president to- 
day by administrative order were to revoke all the 
civil service rules and oust every man possible. 

An incident may be related. The collector at 
Salem was General Miller, a Federalist whom Jack- 
son had marked for dismissal. He had nominated 
his successor. Benton heard this news with great 
agitation and approached the President at once, 
asking if he knew who this General Miller was. 
He did not. 

" He is the hero of Lundy's Lane," said Benton. 

"The man who when asked to take a battery 
said, 'I'll try'?" 

''The very man." 

"By the Eternal !" shouted Jackson as his fist 
came down on the table, "that man shall be in 
of&ce as long as Jackson is President," and the 
order for dismissal was at once revoked. 

The incident is instructive as showing Benton's 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AUM 71 

desire to keep the service intact and in explaining 
the fiery temperament of Jackson. This was an 
age when nepotism was largely practiced. Benton 
in all his public life never asked an office or a pub- 
lic contract for a member of his own family. He 
was a rugged believer in maintaining the integrity 
and independence of the civil service and disliked 
having anything to do with recommending men to 
positions, even when there were vacancies to be 
filled. 

Before taking up the subjects which proved to be 
tlie greatest in Benton's career and so influential in 
politics for more than thirty years, it is well to ob- 
serve that he became an ardent foe of the Navy. 
He believed, of course, in a moderate establish- 
ment, but asserted as many of his successors have 
done to this day, that a large navy is simply an in- 
centive to international broils, and that in any event 
we could not depend upon it in case of war. This 
indicated a rather narrow view of the subject, con- 
sidering that it was the despised Navy that had 
won most of the honors in the late war, in which . 
Benton had figured most inconspicuously. But he 1 
was alarmed at the tremendous cost of the fleet, and \ 
being a rigid economist, always singled it out for i 
retrenchment whenever possible. In his many ' 

i 



72 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

speeches he was w illiug enough to admire exhibi- 
tions of personal valor, but he did not consider the 
establishment necessary on the basis favored by the 
majority. This seems to have been a fault of his 
training and experience. Benton was not commer- 
cial in instinct, nor did he until late in life come at 
all in contact with those forces in the East which 
were so potent in national development. Even 
then it was with constant surprise that he discovered 
that manufactm-ing and shipping were not neces- 
sarily tinged with a peculiar selfishness and a lack 
of patriotism. 

It was on somewhat different grounds that he at- 
tacked the Military Academy at West Point. He 
was never tired of branding this institution as ex- 
pensive and as training young men in a way that 
\ was contrary to existing theories. It was alleged 
that the soldier was born, not made. This notion 
has long been abandoned, but in Benton's day 
there was some justification for it since the Academy 
was a new institution, feebly administered. Ben- 
ton had grown up on the frontier ; had served under 
Jackson whom he considered the greatest general 
of the age; was familiar with the careers of the 
Clarks, Harrison and others who had sprung from 
the soil and made good military records. His 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AKM 73 

argument was weak in that it failed to recognize that 
a good man is made better by training. As we shall 
see later he was willing and anxious to command 
all the armies of the country, in spite of the fact 
that he had never been in a battle in his life. 

Though Benton talked long and often concerning 
the l!^avy and West Point, he never succeeded in 
impressing his fellow members with the worth of 
his suggestions, and these can hardly be made rail- 
ing accusations against him. 

The first crisis in Benton's political career came in 
the contest over nullification, and strangely enough 
he was for a time allied with the forces which 
were attempting to establish that doctrine, always so 
hateful to him. It need hardly be said that in this 
he was unconscious of the aid he was giving them, 
and it was but a short time before the scales felL 
from his eyes. Benton seems to have been a guilefi 
less sort of person. Conscious of the rectitude of \ 
his own views, he was loath to attribute any sinister J 
designs to others. Considering his later career it is/ 
astonishing to find him early in the Jackson ad- 
ministration a supporter of the views of Hayue and 
Calhoun, utterly failing to note the trend of events. 
Little has been said thus far of the growth of the 
views of the ultra-slavery men for the very reason 



74 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

that to understand the career of Benton, we must 
follow him in his ignorance. Now that he was to 
have his eyes opened it is necessary to give some 
account of the political situation in the winter of 
1829-30. 

We have seen how Calhoun retired from the con- 
test for the presidency with apparent gracefulness, 
and there were those who supposed he had elimi- 
nated himself from the struggle for the succession. 
This was by no means the case. Under the circum- 
stances Jackson seemed a desirable stop-gap and 
Calhoun and his friends were perfectly willing to 
have him serve a term while they perfected their 
plans a little better. Jackson was an old man and 
far from vigorous. He had at first no idea of ac- 
cepting a second nomination. His beloved wife 
was dead, his health was poor and he was content 
to enjoy the distinguished honor for a single term. 
But for the nature of the opposition it is not likely 
that he would have entered the lists a second time. 
An arrogant man in some respects, he was gentle in 
his demeanor toward friends and was more cultured 
than his enemies supposed. He could stand almost 
anything but imputations against his honor or in- 
tegrity, or an attack upon the motives of his public 
actions. He loved a fight in secret as well as in the 



JACKSON'S EIGHT ARM 75 

open, and was no mean antagonist as all his oppo- 
nents had discovered ; but he had no love for the 
devious ways of politics unless he was forced to 
employ them on his own account. At his inaugu- 
ration he was well affected toward Calhoun, and it 
was some time before he discovered that the South 
Carolinian was not so true a friend as he thought. 

Politics for their own sake employed more of the 
attention of public men in that day than now. 
There was a lust of power and an ambition for 
preferment that now tend to disappear. For 
personal profit politicians and statesmen contend 
vigorously, but there is less direct striving in the 
open for the presidency and other honorable offices. 
Calhoun had lost his earlier frankness of manner 
and surrendered his liberal views on national ques- 
tions. He was becoming less and less a national 
statesman, more and more a speculative philoso- 
pher, and his mind was more exclusively turning 
toward the interests of the South, — toward cotton 
and the peculiar institution of slavery. On the 
whole, he was a better man than the North for many 
years was willing to believe. He devoted the 
best twenty years of his life to expounding and 
propagating the doctrine of nullification which was 
only, so far as he would admit, a purely intellectual 



76 THOMAS H. BEI^TON 

and moral denial by the states of the right of the 
Federal government to infringe on their reserved 
rights. He did not believe in forcible resistance to 
national authority — so he said — but unless this 
was emploj'ed his theories fell to the ground. 
Academic opposition in statecraft is silly, and 
though to the last Calhoun professed himself a 
Unionist he developed a school of politicians who 
were ready to carry his doctrines to their legitimate 
and practical conclusion. Even Jefferson Davis 
twenty years later called nullification absurd, and 
admitted that the only alternative was revolution 
which he tried as a last resource. 

Much of the difficulty which now arose, and 
which continued for a generation and more, was 
due to the fact that there were in this country two 
separate and distinct civilizations. The Xorth com- 
prised a number of states which were republics in 
the best sense of the term. The towns or townships 
were as a rule pure democracies and the state gov- 
ernments rested upon the just consent of the 
governed, affected only by the political machina- 
tion of the age. As perhaps neither party was in 
the latter respect any better than the other there 
occurred as a rule that "cancellation" of fraud, im- 
position and undue influence which is requisite to 



JACKSON'S EIGHT ABM 77 

maintain anything resembling a pure and righteous 
government. When all or a preponderating portion 
of the fraud is on one side a decadence follows rap- 
idly ; but in the North this was on the whole less 
noticeable, certainly less continuous, because of the 
intelligence of the people, the general use of the 
franchise and the fact that towns were so important 
in the entire scheme of government. 

In the South where the county system prevailed 
politics had a di£ferent aspect. The franchise was 
nominally extended to white freemen, but as a mat- 
ter of fact was controlled by the large planters 
in much the same way as the British suffrage had for 
centuries been controlled by the great landowners 
of England. Even the "poor whites" seldom at- 
tempted any direct interference in politics. The 
great slaveholder had, besides his black flock, a 
body of retainers which he could depend on as cer- 
tainly as the feudal lord of the Middle Ages. While 
it was customary for the leaders of the Southern party 
to berate the men of the North for their subserviency 
to trade, their desire for wealth and their anxiety 
for laws favorable to private interests, the truth is 
that the mind of the South was wholly occupied 
with economic questions. Cotton and slavery were 
the things which were largest in their horizon and 



78 THOMAS H. BENTON 

their opinions on these subjects came to affect their 
views of everything else. This is not singular. 
The North was similarly engaged in trying to pro- 
mote its own interests, and the difficulty came from a 
ditference in temperament and a divergence of opin- 
ion as to what was really the best national policy. 
Cotton was fast becoming king. Even under the 
crude system of cultivation which prevailed, large 
fortunes were being accumulated, and the planter 
was anxious to extend his estates, increase the 
number of his slaves and assume a sort of hege- 
mony in his section. 

Except in the cotton belt, and there in only 
minor degree, slavery was not in its outward as- 
pects the horrible institution that it seems to us 
now, or as it seemed to the Northern people at that 
time. That the negroes as a rule were little above 
the brute was the common belief, and much of the 
treatment was brutish as compared with that ac- 
corded white men. But all things are relative, and 
if the negro suffered much physical pain, was un- 
derfed and overworked, according to Northern 
standards, it must not be assumed that the system 
was altogether bad in its economic phases, since 
self-interest led masters to treat their slaves as well 
as their cattle. Had the negro been more enlight- 



/ 



/ 

/ 



JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 79 

ened, had he been used to better things, had he 
possessed a spirit of independence and had slavery 
sat upon him like a galling yoke, the suffering 
would have been greater ; but in that case the sys- 
tem would not long have existed since he would 
have successfully revolted against his master. ' 

It is of interest to digress here and tell of a move- . 
ment inaugurated by Benton in Missouri in 1828, 
which came very near doing away with the Missouri 
Compromise. Though slavery had increased in 
that state, it was found that it interfered to some 
extent with immigration, and there were plenty of I 
arguments in favor of gradual abolition. These J 
were endorsed by Benton, who at the time of the/ 
admission of the state had been the boldest of anti-/ 
restrictionists. Perceiving that morally and eco- 
nomically emancipation would be for the best inter- 
ests of the country, Benton and a large number of 
the leading men of Missouri met in conference and 
agreed upon a policy of gradual emancipation by 
constitutional amendment, which would have led 
the way to similar action in other border states. 
The plans were carefully prepared and it seemed as 
if the clouds might lift from the country, when 
there occurred one of those incidents which seem 

* Fanny Kemble, " Two Years on a Georgia Plantation." 



/ \\- 



80 THOMAS H. BENTON 

more like fiction than real history. The Missouri- 
ans heard with dismay that Arthur Tappan, the 
merchant prince and philanthropist of New York, 
had entertained colored people at his private table. 
That ended the matter. No further move was made, 
and the subject was dead for many years afterward.' 

All institutions based on immoral or uneconomic 
conditions are timid and suspicious. Slavery was 
the corner-stone of the Southern system of industry 
and commerce, and that it was unsafe was freely 
admitted, except in partisan debate. It must be 
increasingly safeguarded, explained and apologized 
for with the result that the slave owner was angered 
and embittered, because he thought that he was 
being constantly assailed by those who pretended 
to be holier than he. Such criticism is one of the 
most difficult things in the world to endure with 
equanimity and self-possession, and forbearance 
was not the chief virtue of the South. Now it is 
not true that at this time there was any excess of 
individual virtue on the part of the North. Most 
Northern people who went South became slave- 
holders. Most Southern men carried on business 
with the North and the alliance was close. It is 
true, however, that for the advantage the South may 

' " History of Missouri," American Commonwealth Series. 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 81 

have had in the way of human slavery, and in its 
increased political power, which was gained by 
counting three-fifths of the slaves, the North felt 
that it should enjoy protection to its industries. 
The North was more shrewd and adventurous, far 
more successful in business, and the westward ex- 
pansion of the population was constantly inuring 
to the benefit of the free states. 

So long as the Virginia dynasty was in power the 
South had no fear. Monroe had, however, proved 
intractable to some extent and the younger Adams 
was utterly opposed to the Southern policies. See- 
ing that the South had been in control of the gov- 
ernment practically the whole period of our na- 
tional existence and that Jackson himself was a 
Southern man and a slaveholder, it is peculiar 
that the dread of any should have been aroused 
over the loss of political authority. That fear was 
less influential in shaping coming events than the 
desire of particular Southern leaders to gain place 
and power, and they affected to believe many things 
which made their conduct more or less necessary 
and which were most of them miserable ghosts. 

The actual fact was that Calhoun desired the 
presidency, and his many friends wished to partici- 
pate in the distribution of the patronage. This 



82 THOMAS H. BENTON 

was not for financial reasons, since emoluments of 
office were then very small, but because of lust of 
power. It was peculiarly true that Southern men 
loved promotion, because of their political institu- 
tions which in the aggregate developed an office- 
holding class and reduced the ordinai'y voter to a 
subordinate place. 

The sectional question was soon to make its ap- 
pearance in Congress in a very virulent form. The 
matter of the public lands was ever dear to Benton 
and anything that affected them was certain to receive 
his immediate attention. He had not at this time 
succeeded in securing all of the legislation for which 
he labored, but his ten years had resulted in a much 
more liberal policy than formerly. Under his 
^system the individual homesteads were rapidly 
growing in number in all parts of the West. The 
stream of emigration was flowing constantly toward 
the setting sun, and most of the foreigners who came 
to this country hastened to secure the cheap and 
good lands. At the same time New England was 
being constantly denuded of its younger people 
who went West on parallels of latitude. The 
South was slower to take advantage of its op- 
portunities but the border states, especially Ken- 
tucky, were filling up Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 83 

Here was a condition which made some of the 
New England leaders groan. The youth and 
strength of the section were going West and it was 
evident that the relative importance of the East 
would soon be lost. It is strange that there was no 
confidence in the institutions which these young 
people had absorbed at home, no belief that New 
England principles would be carried to the far 
West. On the contrary there was a feeling that 
while there had long been a North and a South, there 
would now be also a West, and a three-cornered 
contest was certain to ensue in which the older 
states were likely to be worsted. This situation 
was not to be contemplated with equanimity for a \ 
moment, and the outcome of the opposition to the 
new order of things was a resolution offered by 
Senator Foot, of Connecticut, to the effect that the 
sale of public lands should be restricted to those in 
the market and that the office of the public sur- 
veyor should be abolished. This meant relegating 
the whole of the unsurveyed public domain to 
chaos, — taking it out of any possible political affili- 
ation for the immediate future. It was to be an 
artificial barrier placed across the pathway of de- 
velopment for the benefit of the older Eastern states. 
The motive of the resolution was largely political, 



84 THOMAS H. BENTON 

but the author could uot have imagiued the results 
which were to follow. The debate opened at once 
and lasted for a long time, during which nearly 
everything but the land question was taken up in 
detail. 

^/Benton, ever impetuous and more than ready to 
speak, was the first to take the floor. He opposed 
/the resolution not only with all the logic and prac- 
/ tical wisdom of which he was possessed but with 
) more physical energy and objurgation than at first 
; seemed necessary. He raged up and down the semi- 
i circular chamber and talked in most extravagant 
language. He spoke not only against the principle 
Of the resolution, but he gave some vivid pictures 
of the actual results of the existing policy by 
which the national debt was being extinguished 
and plenty was being cast over a smiling land. 
Here he was in his element and his abilities as an 
actor stood him in excellent stead. He was more 
vociferous than may have been required, but in 
truth he was as earnest as an apostle and sincerely 
anxious to denounce any restriction upon the ex- 
tension of the country. He saw nothing in the 
whole matter but an attack on the "West of which 
he believed himself to be the leading exponent. 
> It ought to be said that the government survey 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 85 

by townships, sections and *' forties" was an instlK 
tution the value of which can hardly be over-esti- \ 
mated in considering the growth of the United \ 
States. It was the climax of labor saving invention 
as applied to population extension and to have re- 
jected it at this time would have resulted in worse 
disasters than even Benton imagined. The princi- 
ple of least resistance never worked to better ad- 
vantage than in this method of distributing the 
public domain. 

While Benton, '' in a fine frenzy rolling," was at- 
tacking this resolution, Calhoun sat in the chair wait- 
ing for a political vantage point. It came sooner 
than he had anticipated, and from an unexj)ected 
quarter. The subject of slavery had been injected 
into the debate, — sure to be the case when territory 
was involved. In a brief speech on the subj ect, Web- 
ster, without that preparation which he ought to 
have had, announced that the doctrine of freedom of 
territory was a Northern one ; that the Ordinance of 
1787, by which slavery was forever prohibited in 
the Northwest Territory, was introduced and car- 
ried by Northern votes alone. This was a singular 
lapse upon the part of the ''descended god," who 
was beginning to feel that the aegis was in his 
rightful possession. It was due to carelessness and 



86 TUOMAS H. BENTON 

misappreliensiou which lasted for many years, and 
by which New England men, without much contra- 
diction, constantly ascribed all the political virtues 
and accomplishments of the nation to their own 
section. We can scarcely blame New England for 
this, since she was so little disputed at the time; but 
history has not been able to sustain all the claims 
so largely and vociferously put forth in her behalf. 
In asserting therefore that freedom in the Northwest 
Territory was a Northern measure, Webster made 
a mistake, but a natural one. This gave Benton 
the opportunity he sought, and he delved into 
history and musty records with more enthusiasm 
and love of detail than Webster could ever com- 
mand. In a second speech he showed that Webster 
was entirely wrong ; that the proposition emanated 
from Jefferson ; that at the last it was unanimously 
adopted ; and that the South was as much entitled 
to credit for the measure as the North, perhaps in 
the last analysis to greater credit. To this Webster 
answered not a word either in the way of explanation 
or apology. It is probable that he was convinced, 
but those were not the days when a man felt it 
incumbent upon him to admit that he was in the 
wrong. 
K the discussion had gone no further we should 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 87 

never have heard of it in history. That it was 
extended and widened was due to the fact that 
Calhoun saw a chance at this point to exert him- 
self in favor of his particular propaganda. This 
was entirely legitimate ; criticism must lie only 
against the methods used. The debate had intro- 
duced the matter of free and slave states, and that 
was enough for the purposes of the Calhoun party. 
They were sufficiently shrewd to see that Southern 
political control could come only by attaching to , 
the Southern interest a portion of the growing ' 
West, which was the disturbing factor in the ' 
political balance. The injection of the question of 
the restriction of land sales made an issue which 
was not only revolting to the West, but seemed \ 
almost providential to the followers of Calhoun. \ 
Here originated the idea of the coalition between ' 
the South and the West, which figured so largely in 
the debates and more or less in actual politics for a 
long time to come. Calhoun was represented on 
the floor by Eobert Y. Hayne, also of South 
Carolina, a man of many resources intellectually, 
of engaging personality, and devoted to his chief. 
There were men in that Senate of more intellectual 
and moral power than Hayne, but they have been 
forgotten, while he is remembered because of the 



88 THOMAS H. BENTON 

contest which has lastingly linked his name with 
that of Webster. This young man took up the 
gauntlet and made some references to nullification 
in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, 
looking upon them as charters of more importance 
than the Constitution, since they were supposed to 
have been the work of Jefferson and Madison 
respectively, men whose opinions were then held in 
the highest esteem by a great majority of the elec- 
tors of all sections. 

This introduction of the term "nullification " into 
the debate was not fortunate for the slavery propa- 
gandists. It roused the sleeping lion in Webster, 
who cared less for mere technicalities than for broad 
principles. To him nullification was maddening, 
and in desultory debates he expressed his views in a 
way that seemed to require an extended reply. This 
was supplied by Hayne, not so much on his own 
account, as in his capacity of mouthpiece of 
Calhoun, whom he consulted at every stage of the 
contest and from whom through the long debate he 
nightly drew inspiration. 

It is generally agreed that Hayne discussed the 
subject in question before the Senate in an ad- 
mirable manner. But neither he nor any one 
else could be confined to the matter of limiting the 



JACKSOK'S EIGHT AEM 89 

sales of public lands, and must needs run off into a 
discussion of the whole subject of politics past, 
present and future. HI fared it with this Eoderick 
when he brought up the subject of nullification 
as laid down in the aforesaid Eesolutions of 1798, 
and worse when he introduced the matter of the 
Hartford Convention, which seemed a particularly- 
fitting weapon with which to attack a New England 
senator. JSTow the truth is that the Hartford Con- 
vention, though not officially representing New 
England, had just enough official status to make it 
seem formidable at the time it met, New England 
was disaffected regarding the War of 1812, and 
though doing her share in the field, there was a 
feeling of revolt in the whole section that was well 
manifested in the Hartford Convention. It was 
most fortunate for New England that before that 
body was enabled to lay its propositions before 
Congress news came of the peace. After that there 
were somewhat fewer than forty very respectable 
men of New England who were only too glad to 
court oblivion. The serious student must admit that 
if the war had continued in a disastrous way for a 
year longer the Hartford Convention might have 
reassembled and recommended dissolution in some 
way or other, and there is much reason to believe 



90 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

that this might have been the result. At least a 
most violent disturbance would have ensued. For- 
tunately none of these things happened, and in the 
joy over the cessation of hostilities the obliquity of 
New England had been for the time forgotten. ' 

When Hayne brought up the matter he expected 
that Webster would not only apologize for his sec- 
tion but attack the South. That godlike statesman 
was too shrewd for this. In a long and earnest 
speech he attempted to keep the subject within 
bounds, and to uproot the notion that there was 
anywhere in the North an idea of separation or 
that there were actual warring and conflicting inter- 
ests which were to be affected by the legislation pro- 
posed. These earlier speeches were on both sides 
a mixture of the academic and the practical. Hayne, 
taking the initiative, managed to make a fine im- 
pression because he had the popular side on 
the main question. He returned to the attack. 
There was a degree of formality and imperson- 
ality in debate in those days which deceived no one 
as to the intent of the participators. The contest 
was becoming warm and it was now Calhoun against 
Webster. In a colloquy during Hayne' s speech 
Webster tried to corner him, to find out whether 
' Henry Adams, " History of the United States." 



JACKSON'S RIGHT AEM 91 

he considered nullification justifiable on the ground 
of the Hartford Convention. Hayne was too wary 
to be caught in such a trap and evaded the issue. 
He could not claim any actual legislative sanction 
for the Eesolutions of 1798, and if he avowed that 
nullification was the foundation stone of the Hart- 
ford Convention, it was likely he would be thrown 
out of court by a repudiation of that unofficial and 
of&cious assemblage which all New England was 
anxious and in good position to renounce. Hayne 
parried the thrust, but proceeded to attack New Eng- 
land for her recreancy in the late war, and to show 
in general how much more the nation owed to the 
South than to the North. It was a brilliant speech, 
a clever presentation of a specious argument, but 
it had the fatal defect of trying to prove too much. 
It was characteristic of the magnitude of Web- 
ster's appreciation of the whole subject and its de- 
tails that he refused to be drawn into any contro- 
versy over patriotic bookkeeping. He had no mind 
for settling petty balances by weight of sword or 
glory. He came to the task with a brain stored full 
of the richest imagery and was dominated by the 
broadest patriotism. It should be said in all hon- 
esty that Webster was to a great extent the product 
of his environment. We can believe that if he and 



92 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Calhoun had been exchanged in their cradles the 
individual result would have been very different. 
Both were intellectual giants and both had primarily 
the interests of their own sections at heart. It may 
be that Calhoun would never have attained to the 
majestic intellectual stature of Webster in any 
case : it is also doubtful whether Webster could 
ever have reduced the whole question of national 
government to Calhoun's basis. But on the 
whole it may be said that the two men repre- 
sented two sectional ideas, although it was the 
good fortune of Webster to be greater than his 
party, while Calhoun was his party. Webster had 
many limitations but when he was stirred to the 
depths he was no section's candidate, no man's ad- 
herent ; he saw before him but one star in the 
horizon, and that was the Union, which he pursued 
and loved and adored, and well had it been for his 
fame had that been the sum of his ambitions. At 
this time he seems to have been devoid of personal 
avSpiration and, aside from the defense of his own 
section, was actuated solely by patriotic motives. 
His final reply to Hayne which was dragged from 
him under duress and earlier than he wished re- 
quired that he state once and for all the position of 
the people of the North in relation to the growth of 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 93 

the republic, their views on slavery as a political 
asset and on nullification as a measure tending to 
national bankruptcy. He was obliged in this case 
to eliminate much that had been discussed and to 
ignore entirely the original subject of debate, 
which as he humorously said was the only one that 
had not been taken up in the whole controversy. 

With great shrewdness and with a loftiness of 
mind that is admirable to contemplate Webster 
went to the marrow of the real contention that had 
arisen. He refused to uphold the Hartford Con- 
vention, and declined absolutely to enter upon any 
encomiums upon Massachusetts or the rest of that 
sisterhood. Eather did he prefer to spend his 
time in lauding the early patriotism of South Caro- 
lina, and in complimenting her sons who had done 
so much to establish national liberties. Turning 
from any specious discussion of events, he lifted the 
whole plane of debate into one so high that it could 
not but inspire his opponents. His plea was for a 
nation composed of states and not for a number of 
states loosely confederated as a nation. He held up 
the Union in a sense which no human mind had 
before conceived and no human voice had ever por- 
trayed. He painted a picture which ever since has 
been unfading, and he erected the temple of the re- 



94 THOMAS H. BENTON 

public on foundations which are still lasting. Prac- 
tically every good American now living has been 
brought up directly or indirectly upon the teachings 
of Webster on this occasion, but it should not be 
forgotten that at this time there was scarcely any 
man who did not love his state beyond the nation. 

"Webster closed with that peroration which is still 
written in letters of gold, and which served thirty 
years later to unite many states for the defense of 
the nation, words which in their rich imagery and 
in their practical application have few parallels in 
all literature: — 

"While the Union lasts, we have high, excit- 
ing, gratifying prospects spread out before us, 
for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not 
to penetrate the veil. God grant that in my day, 
at least, that curtain may not rise ! God grant 
that on my vision never may be opened what lies 
behind ! When my eyes shall be turned to be- 
hold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not 
see him shining on the broken and dishonored 
fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States dis- 
severed, discordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with 
civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal 
blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance 
rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 95 

now kuown and honored throughout the earth, still 
full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming 
in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or 
polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its 
motto no such miserable interrogatory as ' What 
is all this worth 1 ' nor those other words of 
delusion and folly, ' Liberty first and Union after- 
ward ' ; but everywhere, spread all over in char- 
acters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, 
as they float over the sea and over the land, and in 
every wind under the whole heavens, that other 
sentiment, dear to every true American heart, — 
Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and in- 
separable! " 

It is remarkable that after Benton had listened 
to this magnificent burst of eloquence, which 
really expressed his own views, he rose and 
ridiculed it with that rather coarse sort of wit in 
those days characteristic of his speeches. He felt 
that here was a chance for invective and without 
the slightest fear he called those closing sentences 
of Webster's mere painted pictures, balderdash 
and manufactured sentiment gotten up for the pur- 
pose of home consumption. Benton was sincere in 
this. In all this time he could not perceive that 
Calhoun and his party had a deeper purpose, and 



96 THOMAS H. BE^sTON 

to defeat the Foot Resolutiou he was willingly led 
into things which he afterward regretted. Excerpts 
from his remarks are worth quoting. They form a 
strange auti-climax to Webster's peroration. He 
said : 

"Among the novelties of this debate, is that 
part of the speech of the Senator from Massachu- 
setts which dwells with such elaboration of declam- 
ation and ornament, upon the love and blessings 
of union — the hatred and horror of disunion. It 
was a part of the senator's speech which brought 
into full play the favorite Ciceronian figure of am- 
plification. It was up to the rule in that particular. 
But, it seemed to me, that there was another rule, 
and a higher, and a precedent one, which it vio- 
lated. It was the rule of projjriety ; that rule 
which requires the fitness of things to be consid- 
ered ; which requires the time, the place, the sub- 
ject, and the audience, to be considered ; and con- 
demns the delivery of the argument, and all its 
flowers, if it fails in congruence to these particulars. 
I thought the essay upon union and disunion had 
so failed. It came to us when we were not pre- 
pared for it ; when there was nothing in the Senate 
nor in the country to grace its introduction ; noth- 
ing to give, or to receive, effect to, or from, the 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 97 

impassioned scene that we witnessed. It may be, 
it was the prophetic cry of the distracted daughter 
of Priam, breaking into the council, and alarm- 
ing its tranquil members with vaticinations of the 
fall of Troy : but to me, it all sounded like the sud- 
den proclamation for an earthquake, when the sun, 
the earth, the air, announced no such prodigy ; 
when all the elements of nature were at rest, and 
sweet repose pervaded the world. There was a 
time, and you, and I, and all of us, did see it, sir, 
when such a speech would have found, in its de- 
livery, every attribute of a just and rigorous pro- 
priety ! It was at a time, when the five-striped 
banner was waving over the land of the North ! 
when the Hartford Convention was in session ! 
when the language in the capitol was, ' Peaceably, 
if we can ; forcibly, if we must ! ' when the cry, out 
of doors, was, ' The Potomac the boundary ; the 
negro states by themselves ! The Alleghanies the 
boundary ; the western savages by themselves ! 
The Mississippi the boundary, let Missouri be gov- 
erned by a prefect, or given up as a haunt for wild 
beasts ! ' That time was the fit occasion for this 
speech ; and if it had been delivered then, either 
in the hall of the House of Representatives, or in 
the den of the Hartford Convention, or in the high- 



98 THO^IAS H. BENTON 

way among the bearers and followers of the five- 
striped banner, what efl'ects must it not have pro- 
duced ! What terror and consternation among the 
plotters of disunion ! But, here, in this lojal and 
quiet assemblage, in this season of general tran- 
quillity and universal allegiance, the whole per- 
formance has lost its effect for want of affinity, 
connection, or relation, to any subject depending, or 
sentiment expressed, in the Senate ; for want of 
any application, or reference, to any event impend- 
ing in the country." 

I It is needless to say that Benton often regretted 
this speech. In vain did some of his friends tell 
him that not only was he mistaken about the nature 
of the existing controversy, but that nullification 
mas to be brought forward as a live issue and the 
[President attacked because of alleged usurpations 
of ofl&ce. Benton was hard-heiided and optimistic. 
He thought Calhoun was actuated simply by a lit- 
tle excess of zeal so that he might curb the New 
Englanders. On the whole when the debate was 
\over, and the Foot Resolution had been buried, 
Benton was congratulating himself that affairs had 
turned in his favor, and was still unconscious that 
Jackson was really the object of the objurgations of 
the senatorial clique. Indeed, it was not until 



JACKSON'S RIGHT AEM 99 

April when the customary dinner in honor of Jef- 
ferson's birthday was given that he learned the 
truth. 

That dinner had been planned long in advance. 
Calhoun had determined to drive Jackson into a cor- 
ner. The latter was to give a toast, and while he was 
hardly expected to say anything radical, he was to lis- 
ten to other toasts by so many imj)ortant men setting 
forth the Democratic doctrine, that he would feel 
overpowered by the authorities ranged against 
him. In fact, this backwoodsman, having served 
his purpose, was to be tossed aside, and the real 
gentry and statesmen of the South were once more 
to assume control. 

Benton went to this dinner in perfect guileless- 
ness. He arrived early and was surprised to find 
that he had come to a caucus rather than to a feast. 
When some of the invited guests learned of the 
plan they left in high dudgeon. Most of them, 
however, were privy to the scheme, but were com- 
pletely disconcerted at the last moment when the 
President was asked for a toast and offered the 
memorable words : 

' ' Our federal union — it must and shall be pre- 
served." 

This, as has been frequently said, was like the 



LwfC. 



100 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

ghost of Bauquo appearing at Macbeth' s banquet. 
It disconcerted all and especially Calhoun who 
tried to evade the sentiment by proj)osing a toast 
in which the rights of the states were made para- 
/ mount. The scales had now fallen from Benton's 
eyes, and for the first time he appreciated that there 
was a serious movement on foot which had for its 
purpose the elevation of the cotton-planters to 
power. He had been loath to believe their purpose, 
but when the fact was too plain to ignore, he took 
up the fight in behalf of Jackson and the Union. 

Jackson had been suspicious from the first; in 
fact he was by nature as suspicious as Benton was 
confiding and optimistic. In making up his cabi- 
net Calhoun's friends had been given conspicuous 
representation. It was evident that a rearrange- 
ment must come, and Jackson only awaited the 
time when it would best suit the political exigen- 
,cies of the occasion. 

It so happened that another element was injected 
into official life which made the problem easier of 
solution, without bringing about party disaster. 
Mrs. Eaton, wife of the Secretary of War, was 
objectionable to the other women of the official 
circle and was ostracized. Jackson tried to force 
Mrs. Eaton's social recognition. Van Buren, Sec- 



JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 101 

retary of State, as a widower also did his best to 
effect this object. He made himself Mrs. Eaton's 
escort at social ceremonies, and every friend of 
Jackson of the male sex endeavored to pay her at- 
tention, and if possible give her social position. 
Their eiforts were entirely ineffectual. In the end 
the cabinet must break up, and the three friends of 
Calhoun were dismissed. Eaton and Van Buren 
also left, the latter being made Minister to England. 
The cabinet was completely reconstructed, Benton 
refusing a seat in it. This experience had a marked 
effect on Jackson. Throughout the remainder of 
his two terms his cabinet ministers were as a rule 
mere clerks, and were seldom admitted into the 
close circle of his political friends. He had a 
'' Kitchen Cabinet," to the members of which he 
unburdened himself ; they with him arranged every 
move on the political chess-board. Calhoun and 
his party were deposed and denied further official 
favors, but it was soon seen that this was not 
enough. It was necessary for the administration 
to take an aggressive attitude and go farther. 
Calhoun and his friends believed themselves 
strongly entrenched and had no idea that they could 
be entirely displaced. A lesser man than Jackson 
would have met the fate which was prepared for 



102 THOMAS H. BENTON 

him at the table of his enemies, but the "Eagle 
of Tennessee ' ' was not to be caught off his guard. 
He knew little, it is true, of the wiles of politics 
and had figured little in national affairs ; but he 
had a profound knowledge of human nature, was a 
born warrior and took up the gage so promptly 
that it almost took away the breath of his enemies. 
This was his manner of doing it. The press of 
the day was in many respects feeble compared with 
that of the present time. The newspapers were few 
and the news service was weak in comparison with 
modern standards, but they had an influence not 
less important than now. The fact that there were 
so few journals made the power of each more com- 
manding than in later years. In those dajs the 
administration newspaper at the capital had a 
strong position because it was acquainted with the 
inner secrets and could give the key-note to cam- 
paigns in advance. In addition the public printing 
was valuable enough to make the owner almost 
a fortune in a single term. At this time the Tele- 
graph was the official organ in Washington, and its 
editor had joined forces with Calhoun in what w^as 
supposed to be a coalition that would completely 
submerge the Jacksonians. The plan was long 
kept a secret, and many newspapers throughout the 



jackso:n"'s eight aem 103 

country had been pledged to join the combination. 
Duff Green, editor of the Telegraph, revealed the 
scheme in an effort to secure the adherence of one 
of Jackson's friends, then in Washington, who was 
going to Kentucky to conduct a newspaper in favor 
of the Calhoun forces. The latter not only refused 
but brought the plot to the attention of Jackson 
who made up his mind instantly that he would 
have a newspaper of his own. 

In looking around for an editor he was recom- 
mended to secure Francis P. Blair, an occasional 
contributor to the Argus, of Frankfort, Kentucky, 
who wielded a pen with much vigor and logical 
force. Mr. Blair was a man of wealth and position 
in Kentucky, who had no desire to leave his planta- 
tion and his snug official berth ; but seeing that 
Jackson needed friends and that the fight was to be 
vigorous, he abandoned his home, moved to Wash- 
ington and established the Glohe as an administra- 
tion organ, which soon came to be the most influ- 
ential newspaper the country had ever known. He 
found in Benton a warm coadjutor. The latter 
wrote for him frequently and gave him much infor- 
mation as to the progress of events at the capital. 
Blair became a member of the Kitchen Cabinet, 
was one of the notable men of his day, and con- 



104 THOMAS H. BENTON 

tinued to wield an influence in politics for many 
years. 

When the Senate met in the winter of 1831-2 
the rupture between Calhoun and Jackson became 
complete, their relations being embittered by the 
publication of documents on both sides. Jackson 
was vehement enough when there was no par- 
ticular occasion for it, but when aroused he be- 
came a perfect demon. If it had not been for 
the coalition which Calhoun formed against him; if 
the theory of nullification had not been pushed 
so hard ; if the President had been allowed to 
conduct his administration in peace and to have 
retired gracefully and with honor, much of our 
history would now read differently. Because 
Calhoun despised Jackson and ignored him as 
a man of no political strength, the old warrior 
made up his mind that he would not only be a 
candidate for re-election but would put Calhoun out 
of action altogether if he could. Just how much 
Jackson was moved by personal considerations, and 
how much by those of patriotism will never be 
known, and it is not essential for the purposes of 
this narrative — only the results are of importance 
and they are striking in the extreme. 

At this session of the Senate, the first coalition be- 



JACKSOX'S EIGHT AEM 105 

tween Clay, Webster aud Calhoun was made for offen- 
sive and defensive purposes. Each of these men was 
ambitious for the presidency ; each feared the others, 
and there was not only no love lost between the 
members of the triumvirate, but there were years 
when they were scarcely on speaking terms with 
one another. It suited their purposes, however, to 
combine against Jackson, being content when he was 
slain to fight among themselves for the spoils — a 
situation which never came to pass, for all of them 
were killed politically in one way or another by 
the man whom they despised, aided by Thomas Hy^ 
Benton. 

Benton's leadership became masterful in the war \ 
that was made on the confirmation of Van Buren as J 
Minister to Great Britain. / 

Up to this time there had been little trouble 
about the confirmation of ministers when the posi- 
tions were established by law. There had been 
some wrangling over the question of sending any 
ministers at all to certain posts, some undignified 
behavior in making up the mission to Ghent, but 
nothing further. Van Buren had gone to London 
and was serenely enjoying his position, little sup- 
posing that war was being made upon him at home. 
Benton was amazed at the coalition and took up 



10() THOMAS H. BEXTON 

the fight with all possible energy. The objections 
to Van Buren were childish, and only audacious 
spleen could account for their recognition among 
any body of liberal-minded men. It was consid- 
ered necessary, however, to strike at Jackson 
through Van Buren, and almost two months 
were consumed in giving specious reasons for his 
rejection. Indeed some of the friends of the trium- 
virate who had little personal interest in the matter, 
became alarmed and frequently expressed their 
doubts as to the value of the policy. Calhoun was 
firm and said of the expected rejection of Van 
Buren : "It will kill him, kill him dead. He will 
never kick, never kick." 

Unable to prevent rejection Benton succeeded in 
putting every man possible on record. In the long 
list of speakers against the minister are to be found 
tlie names of nearly all the brilliant men of the 
Senate. Webster, Clay, Ewing, Clayton, Freling- 
huysen, Poindexter, and Hayne were the leaders, 
but there were others. Though the majority was 
ample, there were several occasions when just 
enough of the coalition members left the Senate 
chamber to give Calhoun a chance for the casting 
vote on some proposition connected with the mat- 
ter, which he did in order to inform Jackson that 



JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 107 

lie was his arch-enemy. Immediately after the 
final vote was taken Benton remarked to Moore, of 
Alabama, his next neighbor : 

"You have broken a minister and elected a vice- 
president." 

When the situation was explained to hii^i Moore 
exclaimed : ' ' Why didn' t you tell me that before I 
voted and I would have voted the other way." ^ 

Benton's words proved more than true, for Van 
Buren became president also. Such was the rec- 
ompense that came from giving loyal service to V 
Andrew Jackson. 

When rejection was certain Benton wrote a long 
letter to Van Buren in which it was suggested that 
he become the Jacksonian candidate for the vice- 
presidency, and this seems to be the first mention ^^ 
of the idea. The letter is full of Bentonian warmth,/ / 
and these few sentences are worthy of reproducl/ 
tion : * / 

" You doubtless know what is best for yom-self, 
and it does not become me to make suggestions ; but 
for myself, when I find myself on the bridge of 
Lodi, I neither stop to parley, nor turn back to 
start again. Forward, is the word. Some say, 
make you governor of New York : I say, you 
^Benton's "View." 



108 THOMAS H. BENTON 

have been governor before ; that is turning back. 
Some say, come to the Senate in jjlace of some of 
your friends ; I say, that of itself will be only 
parleying with the enemy while on the middle of 
the biidge, and receiving their fire. The vice- 
presidency is the only thing, and if a place in the 
Senate can be coupled with the trial for that, then 
a place in the Senate might be desirable. The 
Baltimore Convention will meet in the month of 
May, and I presume it will be in the discretion of 
your immediate friends in New York, and youi* 
leading friends here, to have you nominated ; and 
in all that affair I think you ought to be passive. 
'For Vice-President,' on the Jackson ticket, will 
identify you with him ; a few cardinal principles of 
the old Democratic school might make you worth 
contending for on your own account. The dynasty 
of '98 [the Federalists] has the Bank of the United 
States in its interests ; and the Bank of the United 
States has drawn into its vortex, and wields at its 
pleasure, the whole high tariff and Federal internal 
improvement party. To set up for yourself, and to 
raise an interest which can unite the scattered ele- 
ments of a nation, you will have to take positions 
which are visible, and represent principles which 
are felt and understood ; you will have to separate 



JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 109 

yourself from the enemy by partition lines which 
the people can see. The dynasty of '98, the 
Bank of the United States, the high tariff party, 
the Federal internal improvement party, are 
against you. Now, if you are not against them, 
the people, and myself, as one of the people, can 
see nothing between you and them worth contending 
for, in a national point of view. This is a very 
plain letter, and if you don't like it, you will throw 
it in the fire ; consider it as not having been writ- 
ten. For myself, I mean to retire upon my profes- 
sion, while I have mind and body to pursue it ; but 
I wish to see the right principles prevail, and 
friends instead of foes in power." 

When Van Buren heard of his rejection he took it 
calmly and came home to realize how true was the 
statement of one of his British friends that it is 
often good for a public man to be made the subject 
of an outrage. The people as a rule are sensible 
and quick to resent injustice. 

Benton was disgusted with the whole affair and 
though he had achieved the leadership of his 
faction he had made up his mind to retire at the 
end of his term and resume the practice of law. 
This idea he was obliged to abandon because of 
the urgency of public affairs, and he continued 



110 THOMAS H. BENTON 

three more terms iu his seat, haviug many occa- 
sions in his long career to see the truth of his para- 
phavSe of the words of Madame Roland : 

"Oh politics! how much bamboozling is prac- 
ticed in thy game !" 



CHAPTER VI 

THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 

The tariff, a mischievous question at so many- 
periods in our national history, precipitated the 
first great contest between the North and the South 
concerning the fundamental nature of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

Henry Clay, the father of the protective tariflf 
system, had succeeded in securing the passage of an 
act in June, 1832, which its friends freely declared 
was the most scientific ever devised. It was alleged 
that the duties had been so skilfully adjusted that 
the Northern manufacturer got protection only 
where it was needed to meet foreign competition 
and in the proper percentage, while the consumer 
would get many things much cheaper. Even in 
paying for protected goods it was argued that he 
would to some extent take money out of one pocket 
merely to put it in another through the increase of 
wages and of general prosperity. 

The manufacturers had not been entirely satisfied 
with the tariff — they never are — but they had little 



112 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

reason to complain of this bill since its duties were 
the highest that had ever been assessed and the pro- 
tective feature the most prominent. 

The Southern people on their side believed that 
the exactions of the new measure were not only un- 
reasonable but also unconstitutional. They were 
the more opposed to protection because it seemed 
to them that their market for cotton was disadvan- 
tageously affected by the system. The planter 
thought that he received less than he should for his 
staple, while what he must buy was enhanced in 
price through the tariff. 

The real causes for grievance on the part of the 
South were the impoverishment of the soil which 
led to a smaller cotton crop ; the evil and waste of 
slavery ; and the indolence of the people, induced 
by such a system of service. 

The soil of the Southern states, which by nature 
was well adapted to the raising of cotton was 
gradually becoming poorer. The fact that the 
average yield per acre was declining had been 
borne in on the planters in a way that troubled 
them deeply. It was a time when chemistry had 
liardly yet become a science ; when the knowl- 
edge of the functions of nitrogen as a plant food 
was very imperfect ; and when so little was 



THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 113 

known of the manifestations of nature in repro- 
ducing her kind that men could not take hold of 
those simple principles which have since resulted 
in more or less of a revolution in agriculture. It 
was undeniable, however, that the crop was declin- 
ing, or at least the net receipts of the plantations 
were growing less, and a scapegoat must be found 
to explain the result. Clay's tariff served this 
purpose. 

The statement made by the Whigs that the coun- 
try had never been in a more prosperous condition 
than in 1832 was correct. Cotton went out by the 
shipload, and the South had the advantage of pro- 
ducing a crop that could be turned immediately 
into money. In every centre there were " factors " 
who had, in this country and abroad, principals 
ready to advance money on crops at usurious rates, 
but the planter seldom considered this fact. He 
knew that he had one of the great staples of the 
world and that it was sure to bring him large re- 
turns. 

The Southerner was never of that practical turn 
of mind characteristic of the New Englander who 
had to watch and pinch and squeeze to make a 
living, and all the time felt the necessity of accu- 
mulating a surplus. He lived in x^rincely style, 



114 THOMAS H. BEATON 

entertained regally, and was more apt to find in 
political conditions than elsewhere the reason for 
any decline in his income. 

Ck)uld Yankee ingenuity, thrift, intelligence and 
wisdom have been transplanted to the Southern 
cotton-fields, there would have been wealth beyond 
compare in a section where the people lived in a 
style which in the large was destructive of the best 
interests of economy. 

We need only to read contemporaneous accounts 
of life in the Carolinas and Georgia to see how 
artificial was the civilization which prevailed 
there.' On every estate there was an imposing 
mansion, and visitors from the North or from Eu- 
rope marveled at the fact that what were elsewhere 
considered the necessities of life were ignored in 
that section. The men lived according to their 
standards in a comfortable style, kept a good table, 
a fine stable, bet heavily on horses and cards, gave 
notes without hesitation and paid them with much 
grumbling. The Southern man was always opti- 
mistic until he was personally pinched. He spent 
with freedom the money he borrowed, and found 

* Fanny Kemble, "Two Years on a Georgia Plantation" ; 
Harriet Martineau, "Travels" ; De Tocqueville, "Democracy 
in America," etc. 



THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 115 

that the time of reckoning came much sooner than 
he expected. This is a mild statement of the case 
based on contemporaneous records which were 
kept by the Southern people themselves. They en- 
joyed the world and thought that the earth and the 
fulness thereof was for them ; the worst of it was 
that they had so hearty a contempt for people with 
different ideals, and for those who were forced by 
circumstances to follow a very different scheme of 
life. 

The Southern congressman as a rule was a lawyer 
or a planter. His mind was stored with a priori 
views of the Constitution, while he was devoted ab- 
solutely to his ideas as to the practical conduct of 
public affairs. That cotton occupied the largest 
place in his esteem is not surprising, because it was 
the chief industry of the section to which he be- 
longed. The Northern man may have been a protec- 
tionist or the reverse, may have been a slavery or 
an anti-slavery man, but he had that immense ad- 
vantage which comes from actual contact with all 
sorts and conditions of people. It is not surprising 
that the good-natured Southerner who lived on a 
great plantation worked by slaves whom he ac- 
corded tolerable comforts, came to look upon the 
slavery system as economical and benevolent, — 



116 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

even holdiug it to be sauctioued by God and the 
Constitution. He looked upon life according to 
his environment as nearly all men do and he was 
quick to perceive anything that touched upon his 
own peculiar relation. It is only strange when he 
complained because the New England or the Pennsyl- 
vania manufacturers asked for some privilege, such 
as the new tariff law, that he could not see he 
already had an offset guaranteed him in the Con- 
stitution. Now the Constitution had recognized 
slavery as a fact and had given the slaveholder an 
immense political predominance by specifying that 
three-fifths of his slaves should be counted in 
making up representation in Congress and in the 
electoral college. As a matter of fact, the owner of 
500 slaves in South Carolina cast votes representing 
301 persons, while the employer of 500 men in the 
North cast only his own vote, so that the Southerner 
enjoyed a tremendous advantage. But his dispo- 
sition was such that he considered this a right and 
not a privilege. 

We can see clearly in these days that, even apart 
from the institution of slavery, there was a great 
fault in the whole Southern system. There was 
lack of thrift, of economic perception, and a tend- 
ency to spend freely in advance rather than to 



THE WAE ON^ NULLIFICATION 117 

accumulate and invest. The actual result was that 
those esteemed rich were often poor, and nearly all 
of the cotton planting leaders felt that they had a 
grievance. 

In no state were the South' s animosities on the 
tariff question aroused so deeply as in South 
Carolina. Calhoun, supported by Hayne, took up 
the cause of his state, and the South generally, with 
eagerness. 

Much of Calhoun's opposition to the new tariff is 
often ascribed to his political reverses. The fact 
is that he was a bitterly disappointed man. When 
Congress met in December, 1832, the gloom of 
despair had settled over him and his school of cot- 
ton statesmen, in common with most of Jackson's 
enemies. Their defeat at the presidential election 
in November had been crushing. There were many 
explanations but none of them was satisfactory to 
the disappointed leaders. The truth is they had been 
outgeneraled by Jackson and Benton and they had 
appealed to the country on a platform that had been 
rejected. The South Carolina leader was not only 
eliminated as a candidate for the presidency, but 
was fast becoming politically marooned, and that he 
could never stand. He therefore resigned the vice- 
presidency, and was sent to occupy a seat in the 



118 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

Senate where he could take a more active part in 
afi'airs. 

Hayne, on the floor of the Senate, had done 
his best to show how the cotton planters would not 
quietly accede to a protective tariff, but in vain. 
The time for action seemed to have come, and Cal- 
houn was prepared to test his academic theory of 
nullification to the last extremity. 

A convention of the state of South Carolina was 
called (following the process by which states are 
admitted to the Union), and it was solemnly resolved 
not only that the Tariff of 1832 was null and void, but 
also that the law of 1828, which had been submitted 
to for four years, was equally null. The governor 
was called upon, and the legislature authorized 
him to take such forcible measures as would carry 
out these resolutions and refuse payment of taxes to 
the Federal government after February 1st. 

This was nullification. Theoretically it meant 
no forcible resistance, but considering the author- 
ization, it was reasonable to suppose that force 
would be used if necessary. There was something 
sublime in the audacity of this step on the part of 
one of the sisterhood of states. To be sure it had no 
effect that can be likened to that which such action 
would produce to-day after a civil war has deter- 



THE WAE OX NULLIFICATION 119 

mined the relations of nation and states, but even 
then it was viewed with alarm by the other mem- 
bers of the Union. It is true that almost every 
state had many times, through its leaders, threat- 
ened disunion, unless its own view as to the policy 
to be pursued in some particular crisis were ac- 
cepted; so it is hard to say that up to this date any 
one section had been more to blame in this matter 
than another. 

It was the first time, however, that resistance 
was openly asserted, and that it must be forcible, if 
not ridiculous, was apparent on all sides. There 
was a spirit of bravado and something of insolence 
and ignorance in throwing down the gage which 
had immediate application in the prospective 
refusal of the South Carolinians to pay the duties 
levied under the existing tariff law. If this were a 
threat, it was promptly met ; if it were a menace, it 
proved harmless. 

Jackson was as fearless a man as ever lived, and 
when his cause was just he was thrice armed. He 
prepared for the emergency as became a soldier and 
an executive, thus showing more discretion than 
might have been expected of a son of thunder. He 
collected a sufficient number of regiments at easy 
striking distance, sent a war vessel to Charleston, and 



120 THOMAS H. BENTON 

thither despatched General Scott, the hero of Luudy's 
Lane, a Virginian and a patriot. Then he issued a 
proclamation which told the people of the recreant 
state exactly what they might expect. 

It appears from contemjiorary history that Jack- 
son wrote the original of this document with a 
great steel pen, and that his Secretary of State, 
Livingston, modified it sufficiently to meet the 
diplomatic needs of the occasion. Even as toned 
down it was a vigorous paper. To Congress Jack- 
son reported the matter in a dignified way, and pro- 
ceeded to prepare for eventualities. Just what 
would have taken place had South Carolina stood 
her ground can never be known. It was at this 
juncture that Jackson is reported to have sent word 
to Calhoun that if he tried to execute any such 
scheme as he proposed he would hang him higher 
than Haman, and there is little reason to doubt that 
he would have gone to such a length if occasion had 
seemed to require it. He had hanged British sub- 
jects on much slighter provocation. As a matter 
of fact South Carolina had indulged in a " bluff" 
and her leaders decided that they would take no 
steps in the matter until the first of February, thus 
offering opportunity for a compromise." 
' Sumner, " Life of Jackson. 



»> 



THE WAE ON mJLLIFICATION 121 

It is a common impression that on this occasion 
there was no sort of compromise and that South 
Carolina surrendered under duress in the most hu- 
miliating manner. Well would it be if such a fact 
could be recorded. The situation was a vexatious 
one. Jackson, though he was prepared for it, did not 
wish a conflict any more than the mildest man in 
the country. In his annual message to Congress he 
took no backward step in his determination to sup- 
port the laws, but referred to the tariff as a matter 
which had occasioned the controversy. There is no 
doubt he felt that in some respects the measure he 
had so recently signed contained matters concern- 
ing which there was just ground of complaint. 

When Clay arrived upon the scene he was not 
the jaunty, defiant leader of six months before. 
He had lost his battle for the presidency. Though 
he never swerved in his love for the Union he did 
not wish the nation to try the experiment of civil 
war unless it was necessary and was ready to hedge 
on the tariff question. 

Intense was the indignation of the manufacturers 
all over the country when they learned that Clay 
seemed disposed to falter on this subject. The 
recent law was in general beneficial to them, and 
already many had prepared to take advantage of its 



122 THOMAS H. BP:XTOX 

provisions by enlarging their manufactories. That 
their late champion should now show signs of weak- 
ness was to them maddening and to many beyond 
belief. It was an inherent weakness of Clay that in 
times of stress he lacked that clear vision which 
was essential to his own good. It is true he might 
have thought that the country had declared against 
him and that he owed little to those who had re- 
fused to support him, or even to the manufacturers 
themselves who had supported him in vain. This 
however does not seem to have been a very control- 
ling motive in his action. What he desired was 
peace and he was willing to have it come on almost 
any terms, certainly on terms which did him no credit 
as a political economist or as a constitutional lawyer. 
One of two courses was open : to do nothing and let 
the President deal with the matter in his own way, 
or else effect some sort of a legislative compromise 
which would preserve the national honor and at the 
same time remove the cause of the aggravation. The 
latter alternative was adopted after many confer- 
ences in which Benton had an active part. He did 
not appear as a leader in any of the legislation 
which followed, that place belonging naturally to the 
tariff men who directly or indirectly had been re- 
sponsible for the outbreak. Any compromise satis- 



THE WAE O^ NULLIFICATION 123 

factory to them was likely to meet with no opposi- 
tion anywhere. 

Clay drafted the bill. His proposal was gradu- 
ally to reduce the duties for eight years, then cut 
them down sharply in two years until they reached 
a maximum of twenty per cent., a rate which was to 
be maintained thereafter. Perpetually from that 
time forward the tariff was to be for revenue only. 
To the manufacturers this proposal was about as 
comforting and sensible as cutting off the tail of a 
dog an inch at a time to save him pain. 

The passage of the measure was effected in an un- 
usual way. As a revenue bill it must originate in 
the House, where it had long been debated with 
little progress. Clay presented a copy of it to 
Calhoun who now found himself in a very pre- 
carious and unhappy situation. He had threat- 
ened that his state would nullify the acts of the 
Federal government unless it changed its policy. 
Jackson had sternly rejected all suggestions of com- 
promise on the subject of nullification, announcing 
that the laws were to be maintained at whatever 
cost and the talk of arresting Calhoun for high 
treason, and the threat of hanging him became 
louder and louder. There was no doubt that Cal- 
houn would have been arrested at the first overt act, 



124 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

and he had no desii-e to become a political martyr ; 
while if he did not proceed in the course he had 
laid down for himself and his state, he must make 
a humiliating surrender. Clay at this time was not 
on speaking terms with Calhoun and after an inter- 
view which was rather painful, a plan was agreed 
upon whereby it was to pass. After being worked 
over in secret in this way, the compromise bill was 
suddenly sent to the House. By a parliamentary 
device it was substituted for the bill under discus- 
sion and was at once passed without debate. This 
was an extraordinary proceeding and met with the 
disapproval of mauj'of the friends of the measure who 
felt that so important a bill ought not to be dealt with 
in any such subterranean manner. John Quincy 
Adams voted against it because he was a pro- 
tectionist and because he felt that no sop ought to 
be thrown to South Carolina, so long as she main- 
tained her rebellious attitude. In this position he 
had many supporters, but the end of the session 
was near and the majority were anxious for any 
way of escape from a danger that was so men- 
acing. 

In the Senate the measure had already been dis- 
cussed in the form of a resolution which Clay had 
offered, and now that the bill itself had arrived the 



THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 125 

debate raged warmly. Webster was particularly 
displeased, and because it was foreseen that such 
would be his attitude, Clay and Calhoun had not 
taken him into their counsels. Calhoun, having 
begun his career as a protectionist, was no^7 work- 
ing for a reduction of duties, declaring that the 
policy was unconstitutional. The Tariff of 1816 
for which he had voted was avowedly protection- 
ist in principle, and in endeavoring to revert to 
that measure as a purely revenue bill he was in- 
consistent. If a forty per cent, tariff is an out- 
rage calling for revolution, and a twenty per cent, 
tariff is perfectly legitimate, there must be a 
dividing line between the two somewhere, and it 
would be interesting to know where Calhoun drew 
it and on what theory he did so. As a matter of 
fact his claim that protection was unconstitutional 
was under the circumstances absurd. The cause of 
distress was deeper than the tariff and, as was 
pointed out in the debate, would endure long after 
that question was disposed of. 

Benton's position in this matter was logical and 
ought never to be lost sight of. He believed that 
the Union was a permanent institution f that the 
nation had the power within itself to protect itself, 
and must do so at any cost. He had no particular 



126 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

love for a high tariff at this time, and it is evident 
from what he said and wrote that he had begun to 
lose faith in the doctrine of protection. Without 
absolutely repudiating his views he had modified 
them somewhat as the following extract from one of 
his speeches indicates : 

' ' The fine effects of the high tariff upon the pros- 
perity of the West have been celebrated on this 
floor : with how much reason, let facts respond, and 
the people judge ! I do not think we are indebted 
to the high tariff for our fertile lands and our navi- 
gable rivers ; and I am certain we are indebted to 
these blessings for the prosperity we enjoy." 

While Benton was therefore personally glad 
enough to have the duties reduced, he would not 
countenance a measure which was nothing more 
or less than a surrender of sovereignty to the 
threats of a single state and, as a matter of fact, 
to a few persons in that state. He denied that 
there was any reason for South Carolina's com- 
plaint. It seemed monstrous that her leaders should 
consider that the South had been ill-treated by the 
North when, with two exceptions, every president 
had been chosen from the South, and the two ex- 
ceptions were New England men, who alone had 
been refused re-election. The Missouii Compro- 



THE WAE ON NULLIFICATION 127 

mise, which Calhoun was now beginning to attack 
and repent of, was really a Southern measure, and 
had been endorsed by him and his political friends. 
The failure to secure Texas from Spain when it 
was possible to do so, was the fault of no man more 
than Calhoun, who was in the cabinet at the time, 
and had agreed with Monroe that it would be better 
to avoid the appearance of a desire to extend the 
domain of slavery. 

Benton was a practical man and had little sym- 
pathy with Calhoun or his theories. If there was 
any real or just cause of complaint he was in favor 
of having it threshed out and decided man to man 
by a majority ; while Calhoun openly said that a 
majority was despotic, and that it often became 
necessary for a minority to nullify its actions. 
What sort of a government could be maintained on 
such a basis perhaps Calhoun imagined better than 
we can, although we shall see that nearly twenty 
years later he actually suggested some such system ' 
for the United States. 

Benton continued to assert that there was nothing 
to compromise, that the proposed measure was a 
surrender and not a compromise, and that the 
nation would suffer in dignity by its course. In 
this position he had the support of Webster. 



128 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

Whatever Webster's faults he was always a na- 
tional man, and apart from his desire to have the 
protective principle retained he could not support 
a bill which was in effect a quasi -endorsement of 
the doctrine of nullification. He was in truth a 
supporter of Jackson on the general subject of pre- 
serving the union, and very glad was the old war 
horse to have such a champion. 

The President's position in this time of legisla- 
tive stress seems to have been quiescent. He 
waited for the compromise to pass but exhibited 
little visible interest in the debates. 

The rearrangement of votes in the course of 
a year illustrates the changing character of our 
politics and shows on how slight a basis the alleged 
principles of the times were established. If the 
Tariff of 1832 were essential and desirable in 
every way in June, it is hard to see why it should 
be destroyed both as to details and to principle 
in the following February. Moreover the curious 
situation resulted that many of those who voted for 
the new bill (including Clay who was its foremost 
champion), insisted that it was still strongly pro- 
tectionist while others supported it because it looked 
toward free trade. In fact the vote in both houses 
on this measure was made up very differently from 



THE WAE ON NULLIFICATION 129 

that of the previous summer aud caused Benton 
and others to wonder where was the profound 
principle in tariff-making which had been so sol- 
emnly endorsed and was now so suddenly aban- 
doned. 

When the manufacturers found that there was no 
recourse but to accept the biU, they did so with the 
best possible grace, but succeeded in securing many 
administrative amendments which helped them 
materially. They were determined, however, that 
there should at least be an endorsement of the 
doctrine of protection. There were those who 
would have preferred a fight to the end then and 
there, to determine whether a protective tariff was 
constitutional or not ; but as this was not to be the 
policy, they insisted that Calhoun and the rest of 
the nullifiers should not only vote for the bill as a 
whole, but for those administrative details which 
were particularly nauseous to them. Indeed, partly 
as a protective measure and partly for the purpose 
of compelling the nullifiers to declare their prin- 
ciples, the duty on one kind of woolen cloth was 
raised very considerably to sixty per cent., and this 
change they must endorse. There was much method 
in this course, for if the nullifiers voted for the bill 
they could never say that it was unconstitutional 



130 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

without accusing themselves of sacrificing principle 
to policy, which was exactly what they were trying 
to make the people believe they would never do. 
Benton has left a careful record of the transaction. 
Clayton, of Delaware, took in hand this part of 
the program — the humiliation of Calhoun — since 
Clay was felt to be in a delicate position on the 
subject. The session had only two more days of 
life when the ultimatum was delivered to the nul- 
lifiers, and it brought them to the verge of despair. 
It was treatment which they had not expected. It 
would take from them the claim to victory which 
they had hoped to set up, and few were disposed to 
vote for the bill, though wishing it to pass. Cal- 
houn tried in vain to have himself excepted from 
such galling terms, but Clayton was inexorable. 
He spent one entire night in debating whether 
he should accede to the demand, finally concluding 
to do so for the very good reason that if he did not 
he must be responsible for civil war, and at that 
time there were few states disposed to follow the 
leadership of South Carolina. He could not igno- 
miniously surrender, so he agreed to vote but 
sought to salve his conscience and explain his 
position to the public, especially to his constituents, 
by putting on record the reasons for his action. 






THE WAK ON NULLIFICATION 131 

This movement was speedily cheeked ; at the last 
he gave his unqualified assent to the bill and the 
crisis was passed. 

It is well to consider for a moment what would 
have happened had Benton been given his way at 
this point in the nation's history, and the whole 
difference could have been brought to its final issue. 
Benton was now aware that there was a spirit of dis- 
union in the South. He saw clearly that slavery 1/ 
was at the bottom of it, and it made him hate that 
institution more than ever, though he remained a 
slaveholder all his days. His position for a quarter 
of a century was that there was actually no danger 
to the slave interest from the North, that all the talk 
about the need for compromises was ridiculous ; and 
he repeatedly challenged the radicals of the South 
to show where there had been a single invasion of 
their rights. To such demands he could get no 
categorical answer. Every time Calhoun and others 
discussed the subject it seemed necessary for them 
to go back to the beginnings of history and 
trace the whole principle of government to the 
present time, when the main point was usually be- 
fogged or absolutely lost in the mazes of intricate 
argument which these orators loved to employ on 
all occasions. By the time they reached the Eeso- 



132 THOMAS H. BENTON 

lutions of 1798 most of their hearers were tired 
and few even read their speeches wheu printed. 
It was becoming a fixed principle of belief in the 
minds of a growing number of senators, that unless 
the Union were extended so that there should 
always be exactly as many slave states as free states 
the country must certainly go on the rocks. 

In vain did Benton say that if it did go on the 
rocks it was because the Southerners would delib- 
erately send it there. They would have nothing 
but their bond and that was the predominance of 
the slave interest in the politics of the nation. 
Well might it have been had Jackson and Benton 
fought the question to a conclusion then and there. 
If it had come to war '' Old Hickory " would have 
been at the front; would have overrun South 
Carolina before the statesmen of that section could 
have completed one of their fine spun arguments. 
Then the subject might have been settled for all 
time. Almost twenty years later another Southern 
Union-loving and warrior president, Zachary 
Taylor, was in the White House, and he too wished 
to try conclusions with the South, but once more 
Clay and Calhoun had their way and left a heritage 
of civil war to posterity. 

With the Compromise went a land distribution 



THE WAE ON NULLIFICATION 133 

bill which was to compensate the manufactur- 
ing communities in some measure for the loss of pro- 
tection. It was greedily accepted by nearly all the 
states. This measure was a part of the bargain for 
reducing the tariff but with his characteristic in- 
dependence Jackson disposed of the bill by a 
pocket veto. 

At the same time this measure was grinding 
through Congress, a "Force Bill" was being pre- 
pared for the assistance of the President in collect- 
ing the revenue and in better maintaining national 
authority, so that his hands would be strengthened 
for future wants, even if the new power should not 
be necessary for immediate use. 

In the debates on the "Force Bill," Benton 
boldly declared that the Union was and must 
be perpetual. At another time he said: "It \ 
was to get rid of the evils of the old confederacy 
that the present Union was formed ; and having 
formed it, they who formed it undoubtedly under- | 
took to make it perpetual, and for that purpose had / 
recourse to all the sanctions held sacred among men I 
— commands, prohibitions, oaths." 

From this position he never deviated though in 
the end it cost him his seat in the Senate which he 
so long had graced. 



CHAPTEE Vn 

THE NATIONAL BANK 

The war on the Bank of the United States, com- 
monly known as the National Bank, was a rallying 
point in American politics for fifteen years. It 
ended not only in the death and bankruptcy of 
that institution, but in the failure to charter a sim- 
ilar establishment. Originally the question was 
one of general policy, but it soon became personal. 
Jackson fought the bank with all the energy and 
determination with which he had swept the Indians 
from the face of Georgia. It was Benton who took 
charge of the contest in Congress, and he was 
obliged to bear the brunt of the opposition from 
the most prominent men inside and outside of the 
Senate who favored the institution. 

Just what Jackson thought of the bank when he 
reached Washington in 1829, is a little obscure, but 
it would seem that he had no decided convictions one 
way or the other. His animosity grew as he dis- 
covered that his enemies were its friends. ' The bank 

' Carl Scburz, " Life of Henry Clay." 



THE NATIONAL BANK 135 

had seven years yet to run, and there was no necessity 
for bringing up the question of recharter. Jack- 
son referred to it in his first annual message in a 
rather equivocal way, although indicating his op- 
position on the ground of its unconstitutionality, 
and the fact that it had failed to establish a uni- 
form and sound currency. The Supreme Court of 
the United States had already decided that a fed- 
eral bank was constitutional, but Jackson always 
claimed that he had sworn to obey the Constitution 
as he understood it and not as others interpreted it 
for him. 

The bank men were disturbed over Jackson's po- 
sition, especially as he intimated that if a bank 
were necessary at all it ought to be a strictly federal 
one and not a private institution. Benton was not \ 
consulted by Jackson on this point, but he was dis- 
posed to go much further than the President. He 
did not want any bank; favored gold and silver 
as money, and paper only as state banks could fur- 
nish it in desired quantities and when based on 
specie, — in short the condition that exists to-day. / 
The pro -bank men were quite willing to wait until 
after the elections of 1832, hoping first that Jackson 
would not be a candidate, or, if he were, that he 
would be defeated. Benton foresaw that if there 



136 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

were any delay, the question would drop out of 
politics for the time being and that before the pub- 
lic mind had been educated up to his aIcw, the re- 
charter would be effected. 

In February, 1831, he concluded to force the 
contest. He introduced a resolution to the effect 
that it was not expedient to recharter the bank, 
j and on this subject delivered a set speech in which 
/ his whole position in finance was set forth. He 
' could not argue against the bank without offering 
a substitute, and he boldly proclaimed that gold 
was needed and not paper ; that plenty of gold was 
being mined in the world, that there was much in 
this country and, what was of more importance, 
that our constantly increasing balance of trade 
\ would bring us all the precious metals we needed 
1 for currency. This speech is more convincing to-day 
1 than when it was delivered. The whole proposition 
Iwas then so startling to most persons that they could 
pot accept it. They laid stress on the fact that the 
country had been in great trouble after the first 
bank was not rechartered and that the second was es- 
tablished as a necessity. Benton's argument was 
largely on the general policy and was not much de- 
voted to actual existing conditions or the conduct 
of the bank itself, though he did declare that it 



THE NATIONAL BANK 137 

had failed of its purposes. His general position 
may be summed up in the following extract from 
his speech : 

^'I am willing to see the charter expire, without 
providing any substitute for the present bank. I 
am willing to see the currency of the federal gov- 
ernment left to the hard money mentioned and in- 
tended in the Constitution ; I am willing to have a 
hard money government, as that of France has been 
since the time of assignats and mandats. Every 
species of paper might be left to the State authori- 
ties, unrecognized by the federal government, and 
only touched by it for its own convenience when 
equivalent to gold and silver. Such a currency 
filled France with the precious metals, when Eng- 
land, with her overgrown bank, was a prey to all 
the evils of unconvertible paper. It furnished 
money enough for the imperial government when 
the population of the empire was three times more 
numerous, and the expense of government twelve 
times greater, than the population and expenses of 
the United States, and, when France possessed no 
mines of gold or silver, and was destitute of the ex- 
ports which command the specie of other countries. 
The United States possess gold mines, now yielding 
half a million per annum, with every prospect of 



138 THOMAS H. BENTON 

equaling those of Peru. But this is not the best 
dependence. We have what is superior to mines, 
namely, the exports which command the money of 
the world ; that is to say, the food which sustains 
life, and the raw materials which sustain manufac- 
tures. Gold and silver is the best currency for a 
republic ; it suits the men of middle property and 
the working people best ; and if I was going to es- 
tablish a working man's party, it should be on the 
basis of hard money : — a hard money party, against 
a paper party," 

Immediately after Benton closed this speech 
Webster called for a vote and it was taken with the 
result that there were twenty senators against the 
bank and only twenty-three in its favor. Not a 
speech had been made for it and indeed there was no 
man in the Senate who was able to make an adequate 
reply to Benton. When Webster saw the coming 
storm, he wrote to Clay saying that he was needed 
in the Senate, and urging him tx) accept election. 
He arrived that fall ready to take up the cudgels 
against Benton. Claj' seems never to have had a j ust 
estimate of Benton's powers as a financier, though 
he crossed swords with him many times in debate. 
Clay had a wonderful imagination and could make 
figui'es and statistics and dry-as-dust details most 



THE NATIONAL BANK 139 

entertaining to his audience. Benton had no such 
gifts, but he could prepare a logical argument and 
one that could not well be overthrown. 

He took up the task manfully and it may be said\ 
that he is responsible for the eventual result. Jack- \ 
son could not well have vetoed the measure had he I 
not felt that Benton was able to support him, — that / 
Benton had so enlightened the people on finance/ 
they would not be alarmed over the prospect of see^ 
ing the bank disappear. 

Early in 1832 the bank sent a memorial to Con- 
gress asking for recharter. It had been delayed for 
some time because there were a few Democrats, 
close friends of Jackson, who did not like to quarrel 
with him, and yet favored the institution. It there- 
fore took a good deal of caucusing to bring them 
together. The memorial was received by both 
Houses at the same time, and the preliminary votes 
as to the committees to which it should be referred 
showed in each case a good majority for recharter. 
Benton was able to hold his own against Clay or 
any one else in the Senate, but upon him was im- 
posed the added duty of conducting the contest in 
the House. He chose a new member, Clayton of 
Georgia, to whom he supplied ammunition and in 
this way carried on a double war when it would 



UO THOMAS H. BENTON 

have exhausted an ordinary man to look after the 
matter in one house.' Clayton delivered a strong 
speech from data furnished him by Benton in which 
twenty-two counts were made against the bank, 
as to its insufficiency and undesirability in general, 
as well as to its specific misdeeds. In fact he 
asserted that it had violated its charter in many 
ways and was abusing its privileges, robbing the 
people and defrauding the government, Mhile he 
insinuated also that it was not in a sound con- 
dition. Clayton closed by asking for a committee 
of investigation to go to Philadelphia and ex- 
amine the books. This brought on rather pre- 
maturely a discussion of the whole subject in which 
members on both sides were wrought up to great 
excitement. As the bank had a majority in the 
House it was first determined to vote down the 
proposition to investigate, but pretty soon it was 
seen that this would be bad policy, since it might 
indicate that there was something to hide. The 
an ti -bank people said it was strange that an insti- 
tution which had asked Congress for an extension 
of privileges was unwilling to have its affairs in- 
vestigated. McDuffie, who as chairman of the 
Ways and Means Committee, was the majority 
'Benton, "Thirty Years' View." 



THE NATIONAL BANK 141 

leader on the floor, saw this aud finally a committee 
was agreed upon. Benton however was cheated of 
the opportunity he desired. The Speaker, instead 
of following the usual rule, making Clayton as mover 
of the resolution the chairman, took another course. 
He appointed a committee of seven members of 
whom three were strong bank men, and three strong 
anti-bank men, while the seventh was the good-na- 
tured Johnson, of Kentucky, reputed slayer of 
Tecumseh, who did nothing at all but sign the ma- 
jority report. 

There were three reports. The majority in their 
report spoke strongly against the bank ; indicted it 
for many violations of its charter ; accused it of being 
onerous and burdensome to the people instead of the 
blessing it professed to be ; asserted that by the 
establishment of many branches, drafts were used 
as currency, that excessive rates were charged for 
money, and that it had shown great favoritism to 
Congressmen and officials favorable to recharter 
while toward others it had been usurious and 
unaccommodating. The first minority report was 
a general defense of the bank, while John Quincy 
Adams submitted a report of his own which was 
more judicial than either of the others. In this 
paper he pointed out certain defects, suggested a 



142 THOMAS H. BENTON 

number of remedies and favored recharter under 
proper restrictions. 

Benton maintained the war with great obstinacy 
for five months. Seeing that the bill would pass 
he used every possible means to effect delay and 
attacked every paragraph, offering all sorts of 
amendments which were voted down. The subject 
was discussed daily, and Benton enjoyed attacking 
"Webster and Clay for changing their positions in 
the matter. When Clay was in the Senate in 1810 
he had voted against the recharter of the first bank, 
commonly called Hamilton's, and had made the 
first important speech of his public career against 
it. He had declared such an establishment uncon- 
stitutional and it made him writhe as Benton re- 
peated his arguments and approved them. In those 
days political consistency was more of a virtue 
than at present. Clay got out of the matter as best 
he could by making a good many excuses, finally 
admitting that he had been wrong in the first in- 
stance. Benton then turned on Webster and quoted 
that leader's speeches when the present bank was 
chartered. Webster had opposed the measure and 
made several very exhaustive speeches in which he 
declared the bank unnecessary and likely to result 
in great corruption and disturbance of business. 



THE NATIONAL BANK 143 

The Missourian compelled him to eat his words. 
Benton himself was in no such position. He had 
opposed the bank from the very first moment he 
entered the Senate ; had sought in vain to compel it 
to pay interest to the government on its deposits ; 
and had tried to correct its policy in many ways 
but with no success. 

The arrogance of the bank's advocates was ex- 
asperating to Benton and his followers. The men of 
wealth, influence and social position felt that they 
had affairs in their own hands. Moreover Nicholas 
Biddle, president of the bank, was a man of many 
abilities and possessed the fatal gift of literary 
composition. He wrote letters when he should not 
have done so and talked too frequently for one who 
was a petitioner for favors. He and his friends 
acted too much as if recharter was a right unde- 
niable ; a sort of ownership of the country was 
assumed which was offensive to all democrats, while 
to Jackson it was maddening. 

On the final vote the bank mustered twenty-eight 
votes and the opposition twenty. In both ranks 
there were men from every section of the country, so 
that no territorial considerations affected the meas- 
ure. In the House there was a majority of twenty- 
two and the bill went to the President at almost the 



144 THOMAS H. BENTON 

same time as the new tariff bill. Clay expected 
that Jackson would sign both bills, or that if either 
was vetoed it would be the tariff since the President 
was not professedly a high protectionist. Jackson 
did exactly the opposite. He signed the tariff bill, 
thereby securing the vote of Pennsj^lvania, and 
vetoed the recharter bill in a message which was a 
campaign document quite as much as a state paper. 
He denounced the monopoly and all its misdeeds in 
vigorous language and asserted not only that the 
bank was unconstitutional, but that it had also be- 
come such a monster of iniquity that the safety of 
the people required its destruction. WTiat was 
gall and wormwood to Clay was the fact that Jack- 
son followed seriatim Clay's speech against re- 
charter of the first National Bank, using his argu- 
ments and almost his language. 

This opened the floodgates of oratory once more. 
Up to this time the bank men had largely confined 
their debates to matters affecting details and had 
left to Benton most of the general argument. The 
campaign now demanded some key-notes and they 
were issued by Webster, Clay and others. Jackson 
was denounced as a foe of the country, a wreaker 
of destruction on the business interests and the 
laboring men, and Webster even went so far as to 



THE NATIONAL BANK 145 

express a fear that the country was finally done for. 
Benton must take up the cudgels for Jackson as 
usual, though he had some support from others. 
He replied to every statement of the opposition 
with logic and with confidence in the future. In 
the course of this debate he had an encounter with 
Clay that nearly led to serious results. Clay was 
bitterly disappointed over the outcome, as it was 
the death knell to his hopes of the presidency. 
Seizing upon Benton as the author of his misfor- 
tunes he proceeded to berate him in a manner more 
befitting the stump than the dignified forum of the 
Senate. To this, however, Benton could make no 
objection since he himself had been a conspicuous 
offender in this respect in times past. Clay, who 
could not accuse Benton of inconsistency in legis- 
lation, made much of the fact that in his youth he 
had fought Jackson and later had become his cham- 
pion. He also asserted that in the campaign of 
1824 Benton had said many things derogatory to 
Jackson to the effect that the latter was little better 
than a murderer, a cowardly braggart, and that dirks 
and pistols would be constantly in evidence if he 
were elected. This was at a time when Benton was 
warmly supporting Clay's candidacy on the stump 
in Missouri. 



146 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

Such action was short-sighted in Clay, for he 
ought to have known Benton Avell enough by this 
time to see that he would not run away from his 
own career. Benton acknowledged the fact that 
he and Jackson had quarreled in youth. He 
said : 

" It is true, sir, that I had an affray with General 
Jackson, and that I did complain of his conduct. 
We fought, sir, and I hope we fought like men. 
When the explosion was over there remained no ill- 
will on either side. I repeat, sir, there is no 
'adjourned question of veracity' between me and 
General Jackson standing over for settlement. If 
there had been, a gulf would have separated us as 
deep as hell." 

Benton then denied he had ever said in Missouri 
that, if Jackson were elected, members of Congress 
would need to guard themselves with dirks and 
pistols. This he declared was a calumny that had 
been secretly circulated, and he attacked Clay bit- 
terly for using it, intimating that as he had fathered 
it he might as well take the consequences. 

Things were now becoming warm. Clay also 
denied that there was any adjourned question of 
veracity between him and Jackson touching any 
subject whatever, Siiying that the President had 



THE NATIONAL BANK 147 

attacked him aud had not made good bis case. 
Taking up tlie dirk question once more, he asserted 
that Benton had used the expression, and turning 
on him asked defiantly : 

" Can you look me in the face, sir, and say that 
you never used that language outside of Missouri ?" 

'' I look, sir, and repeat that it is an atrocious 
calumny ; and I will pin it to him who repeats it 
here." 

Whereupon Clay in excitement cried out : 

"Then I declare before the Senate that you said 
to me the very words." Here Benton in great 
excitement shouted, "False! false ! false !" members 
got up from their seats and the fever heat was rising. 
Continuing, Clay said : "I fling back the charge 
of atrocious calumny upon the senator from Mis- 
souri." ' 

The situation now became so intense that a per- 
sonal encounter was narrowly averted. Clay was 
called to order, but demanded to be heard and the 
debate as to the parliamentary status of the affair 
permitted hot blood to cool a little on both sides, 
whereupon each apologized to the Senate, but not 
to the other. It was an unfortunate passage at 
ai-ms and it bore bitter fruit in later years. All 
» Beuton, " Thirty Years' View." 



148 THOMAS H. BENTON 

the oratory of the disappointed bank men could 
not revive the recharter question, and the ses- 
sion closed with Jackson's star in the ascendant 
in spite of his numerical minority in Congress. 

In the presidential cami)aigu which followed 
much was made of Jackson's veto and bitter were 
the anathematizations showered upon him by the 
Clay men. 

Jackson made up his mind soon after his re- 
election that the National Bank should not live out 
its allotted term of years. That he had some good 
reason for his antipathy is undoubted, but it does 
not appear that the situation was as bad as he and 
Benton attempted to show. It was sufficient, how- 
ever, that, after the war began, some of the partisans 
of the bank had attacked Jackson personally, im- 
pugned his motives and furthermore had used bank 
money in the effort to defeat him for re-election. 
Jackson himself could scarcely have asked his 
enemies to pursue a policy better suited to his 
purpose. 

In his original memorandum on the matter of re- 
charter prepared by Benton for use in the House it 
was intimated that the financial condition of the 
bank was not sound. Later on he openly charged 
that it was insolvent. The facts seem to be that the 



THE XATIOXAL BANK 149 

bank was normally able to meet all its obligations, 
but that it had been led by the war upon it into a 
course of action which weakened its position. It 
had greatly extended its loans to show the public 
how essential it was to business prosperity. Had 
recharter been effected it is likely the bank would 
have fully recovered from the losses which ensued 
from too confident extensions of credit. There was 
a great lack of judgment in permitting its affairs to 
develop into such a condition. 

The officers had at first refused to locate a branch 
at St. Louis because it might help Benton's position. 
Then when they thought the branch might injure 
him it was established, and Benton charged that it 
was active in trying to break his influence in poli- 
tics, though the effort was fatal. 

The law creating the bank had permitted the 
government to cease depositing public moneys in 
the institution when the Secretary of the Treasury 
should so order. This possibility was open, but no 
one of the bank's officers seems ever to have thought 
that such a thing would be attempted. As a rule, 
all Secretaries of the Treasury, of whatever political 
affiliations, had been favorable to the bank because 
it was so admirable an engine of finance for the 
government, and there was no available substitute. 



150 THOMAS H. BENTON 

The bauk meu imagined that Jackson would never 
undertake to overrule his secretary in such a mat- 
ter and felt confident in any event that it would 
be impossible, because the government was a heavy 
stockholder and could scarcely afford to ruin its 
own investment. 

All this argumentation was very fine and very 
convincing to reasonable and experienced men in 
finance, but it argued little knowledge of the char- 
acter of Jackson. The man who was ready and 
perhaps anxious to hang Calhoun was not afraid of 
Nicholas Biddle. ' No sooner was the session ended 
than Jackson prepared to strike the blow which 
had long been meditated. The bank was doomed, 
but it suited his purposes to wait until the last mo- 
ment before giving any intimation of the matter. 
As Secretary McLane was favorable to the bank, 
opportunity was made of a vacancy to promote him 
to the secretaryship of state. To the Treasury was 
assigned William J. Duane, son of the vitriolic 
editor of the Aurora which had been the favorite 
organ of Jefferson. Duane accepted the post with 
some reluctance and agreed that if the deposits 

^ The report that Jackson threatened to haug Calhoun, in 
the sense that personal violejice was intended, is apocryphal. 
Jackson's idea was to have Calhoun convicted of treason. 



THE NATIONAL BANK 151 

were to be removed, he would either sign the order 
or resign to permit some more accommodating 
officer to perform the task. In fact, he does not 
seem to have believed that such a thing would be 
attempted. It was, however, already determined 
on.' Jackson always prepared his policies in con- 
sultation with the members of his "Kitchen 
Cabinet " before conferring with his official advisers. 
He consulted with Blair, editor of the Glohe, who 
was favorable to the move ; Amos P. Kendall, who 
was at first doubtful ; and Major Lewis, one of his 
secretaries, who was willing to do anything his chief 
ordered. Kendall was sent on a secret mission to 
sound the state banks of the country on the matter 
of accepting the national deposits. Jackson had 
supposed they would jump at the opportunity but 
the very reverse was the case. Bankers are pro- 
verbially cautious and those officers who were ap- 
proached first, being those of the soundest institu- 
tions, were chary about the matter since heavy 
security was desired, and the fact that the National 
Bank was to be attacked in so extraordinary a 
manner, was not a good augury for the business 
future of the country. Kendall did succeed in 
making some arrangements, which in the end proved 
' Schouler, " History of the United States." 



152 THOMAS H. BENTOX 

most unsatisfactory, but they were sufficient for 
Jackson's purposes. Returuiug suddenly and un- 
expectedly from an Eastern tour the President 
found to his dismay that although Duane had twice 
been sounded by a member of his " Kitchen Cabi- 
net" he was averse to removing the deposits. 
Jackson who ill-brooked opposition at any time 
was furious and ordered his Secretary to sign the 
order or resign, as he had promised. Duane, who 
was em-aged, both because he thought the policy bad 
and because he found all the business of his depart- 
ment was being conducted in a closet without his 
knowledge, declared that he had been badly treated, 
that he was absolved from his promise, and refused 
to do either. That settled Duane' s position at once. 
He was summarily dismissed. Attorney -General 
Taney was made Secretary of the Treasury and the 
order was promptly signed. Benton was in Vir- 
ginia at this time, ignorant of the action taken, but 
he endorsed it fully. 

*'I felt an emotion of the moral sublime at be- 
holding such an instance of civic heroism," said 
he. "Here was a president, not bred up in the 
political profession, taking a great step on his own 
responsibility from which many of his adversaries 
shrunk." 



THE NATIONAL BANK 153 

That the order made a sensation can well be 
imagined and the officers of the bank were filled 
with dismay. Its condition was now really worse 
than they dared admit and they were struck in a 
vital part. Actually there was no removal of money 
in the vaults but the receipts as they came in were 
deposited in the state banks and all orders on the 
treasury were cashed at the National Bank so that 
the deposits rapidly disappeared. Well had it been 
at this time if Biddle and his directors had shown a 
spirit of humility. On the contrary they were an- 
gered by the action of the President and entered 
upon a course which made their complete ruin all 
the more certain. Biddle drew up a letter in which 
" Andrew Jackson," as he was styled without refer- 
ence to his title, was denounced for issuing ' ' a pre- 
tended order" removing the deposits, the whole 
being couched in a witty and bitterly sarcastic vein 
calculated to impress the ignorant reader with the 
fact that there had been no legal action in the 
premises. After that there was no rest for the 
bank so long as Jackson or one of his partisans was 
in power. The contest for recharter was renewed 
with more bitterness than ever, but with no suc- 
cess. Jackson again showed his consummate leader- 
ship by the fact that not even a majority could 



154 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

be mustered iu Ck)ugress for the bank, in spite of 
the fact that it was supposed to have used a large 
corruption fund. 

When Congress reassembled Jackson reported his 
action and justified it, recommending that the 
87,000,000 of stock held by the government be sold. 
That trouble was at hand was evident from the 
fact that the bank had not paid some national bonds 
when due though supposedly it had plenty of fed- 
eral money and a large surplus. Instead it had 
secured from the holders an extension, and for this 
suspicious circumstance the bank gave a reason 
which satisfied its friends only. 

The bank men in Congress were furious, particu- 
larly Clay and Calhoun, who had their own private 
grievances against Jackson as well as their belief 
in the utility of the institution. The triumvirate 
which had been broken by the nullification affair 
was now reorganized, and the fight on Jackson was 
renewed with enthusiasm, bitterness and not very 
much wisdom. These giants could never satis- 
factorily account for Jackson's popularity and suc- 
cess. The very last concession they would make 
was that he had larger abilities or greater political 
wisdom than any one of them. It is always humil- 
iating to be defeated by one who is considered in 



THE NATIONAL BANK 155 

every way au inferior and Jackson was not at all 
particular about the feelings of his enemies. It is 
perhaps correct to say that Jackson went to intoler- 
able lengths in his animosities and that he was often 
malicious ; but as a rule he was forced into his at- 
titudes and those who wished to escape his wrath 
should not have been so willing and even anxious 
to get in its path. 

On this occasion (the session of 1832-3) Clay 
counted up his followers in the Senate and found a 
good majority. As there seemed to be no way in 
which the President could be compelled to undo 
what he had done the only weapon left was censure. 
Jackson must be made odious to the public. For 
this purpose Clay introduced a resolution of cen- 
sure on the President for his action in removing the 
deposits. This was utterly unprecedented and of 
course made ''Old Hickory " furious. The flood- 
gates of oratory were opened again and in the 
course of a very extended debate the whole subject 
of the administration and its financial policy was 
threshed over. The foes of Jackson made much of 
the fact that there had been a sudden and very 
serious decline in business prosperity in the last 
few months and attributed it directly to the action 
of the President. The defenders of the administi-a- 



156 THOMAS H. BENTON 

tion were put on the defensive in this respect for 
the "hard times" were undeniable. 

Benton who made above thirty speeches in this 
debate insisted that the "hard times" were arti- 
ficial and had been deliberately brought about by 
the bank to show its power. In this view he may 
have had some slight justification but there was 
none for the lengths to which he carried the argu- 
ment. No one free from partisan prejudice could 
deny that distress was to some extent the re- 
sult of the President's action. It is manifest that 
no bank could stand such a sudden constriction of 
its resources without disaster. Dui-ing the previous 
contest, as has already been noted, the institution 
had very greatly extended its credits and it is said 
that some sixty members of Congress were borrow- 
ers or were retained as counsel. When the blow 
fell the bank could do nothing but call in its loans 
as they matured. In many cases the borrowers 
were unable to pay promptly and this brought 
about a great disturbance of business. Although 
the state banks had the money that might have 
been in the National Bank and were urged bj^ the 
Secretary to be liberal in discounts, especially to 
merchants in foreign trade, such readjustments of 
credit are not easily made. While the condition of 



THE NATI0:N^AL bank 157 

the country at no time bordered on panic there 
was great restriction in business and no little 
distress. 

The net result of the winter's campaign against , 
Jackson was the passage of the resolution of censure \ 
by the Senate, to which the President replied in a ' 
vigorous paper declaring that the action of that 
body was illegal and void, and defending himself 
with as much dignity as possible from the asper- 
sions upon his character. Thereupon the Senate 
passed another resolution to the effect that Jack- 
son's reply was improper and out of place. 

The effect of the resolution was far from being 
what the triumvirate had expected. Once more 
the people sided with Jackson, because they saw in 
this plan to humiliate him not an attempt to main- 
tain national dignity, but an effort of disappointed 
statesmen to get even with a successful rival. 
Benton at once announced his intention to work for 
an expunging resolution, and he finally succeeded. 
In fact, had the friends of the bank kept quiet 
Jackson would have come out of the affair with 
little credit, since there appeared to be nothing that 
justified his action in withdrawing the deposits; 
certainly there was no occasion for so radical a 
measure. It was another of those cases in which 



158 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Jackson was happier iu the wrath of his friends than 
in the value of his own acts. 

Moreover a curious situation now developed. 
W^ebster prepared a bill which extended the 
charter of the bank for six years and took from it 
the exclusive monopoly it had so long enjoyed ; 
while it was arranged that the national deposits 
should be restored gradually so as not to embarrass 
the state bank depositories. Benton was not vio- 
lently opposed to this plan. The measuie was 
agreeable to a majority in both Houses and there is 
reason to think that Jackson would have signed it 
if the resolution of censure had not been passed. 
Most unexpectedly neither Clay nor Calhoun would 
support the measure, though it was understood to 
have the approval of the directors of the bank, who 
thought it much better to take half a loaf than no 
bread. Clay still asked for twenty years and Cal- 
houn favored twelve. In this situation no legis- 
lation was possible. Some of the old enemies of the 
bank voted for Webster's motion, while most of its 
old friends were against the measure. Benton here 
appeared as a quasi -champion of the bank and 
Clay as its bitterest foe, and after this there never 
was a chance of any legislation whatever iu its 
favor. The triumvirate succeeded, however, in 



THE NATIONAL BANK 159 

defeating the confirmation of Jackson's nominees 
for bank directors as provided by its charter and of 
Taney for Secretary of the Treasury. 

The notice Benton had immediately given that 
he would move for an expunging of the resolutiory 
of censure against the President was no idle threatt/ 
It was introduced regularly at every session and was 
made the basis of many of his speeches in which he 
again and again went over the whole history of the 
bank and its crimes until it is no wonder that his 
colleagues were tired of the subject and devoutly 
wished he would drop it. In his way he was as 
persistent as Jackson, and so it came to pass that in 
the last months of that President's administration, 
after the Senate had so changed its membership as 
to contain an administration majority, the resolu- 
tion expunging the original resolution of censure 
was passed by a vote of twenty-four to nineteen/ 
This was one of the sweetest triumphs of Benton's 
life. It was in a sense mere brutum fulrnen, for the 
original resolution was one in which a simple 
opinion had been expressed. It had no official 
significance, but it rankled in Jackson's breast and 
Benton was set on righting the injury. The night 
on which this deed was accomplished was one of the 
most famous in the history of the Senate. In vain 



160 THOMAS II. BEATON 

did the giants of the triumvirate protest against 
expunging. They had none of that masterful air of 
a few yejxrs previous, when they were able to con- 
trol the Senate. They now took lofty ground in 
justifying their position, and moved not a whit. 
By this time the people had so far vindicated 
Jackson once more as to elect as his successor 
Van Buren, whom he had personally singled out 
for the honor. 

Benton had made up his mind that the resolution 
should pass on that day (January 16, 1837), no matter 
what the consequences, and he held his followers in 
leash so that they could not escape even had they 
wished. Aware that human nature is very weak 
and prone to err when not properly sustained bj' 
food and drink, he had a committee-room close at 
hand well -stocked with hams, tuikeys, rounds of 
beef, pickles, wine, coffee and everj'thing that 
could tempt the appetite, so that his men should 
not stray away. The triumvirate had imagined 
that it was possible to postpone action, but now 
that they were at bay they made their ^•aledicto^ies 
on the subject, and others who saw that the end 
was near, refused longer to carry on the contest. 
When the resolution passed, Benton moved to 
carry it into immediate execution, which was 



THE NATIONAL BANK 161 

accordingly done. The secretary of the Senate 
opened the record and di-ew a black border around 
the offending resolution and across its face wrote 
the words, '' Expunged by order of the Senate this 
16th day of January, 1837." ' At this announce- 
ment the galleries broke out into hisses. There had 
been so much excitement over the matter, and some 
of the speeches of the evening had been so bitter 
that many of Benton's friends believed he was 
about to be assaulted by roughs in the gallery whom 
they considered partisans of the bank. Some of 
these friends left the room and brought in pistols, 
while Mrs. Benton, who feared that her husband 
was to be assassinated, had come into the Senate 
chamber, resolved to suffer the same fate if neces- 
sary. There is no good reason to believe that an 
assault was intended, certainly it was not inspired 
by any one in a position of authority ; but in those 
days the mob had begun to feel its power, a state of 
things for which Jackson was in no small measure 
responsible, and every precaution was taken to 
protect Benton. The latter had no fear, and when 
the presiding officer gave the order to have the 
galleries cleared he interfered and said with some 
show of bravado : 

^ Devens, "Our First Century." 



162 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

'' I hope the galleries will not be cleared, as 
many innocent persons will be excluded, who have 
been guilty of no violation of order. Let the 
rufiians who alone have made this disturbance be 
punished. Let them be apprehended. I hope the 
sergeant-at-arms will be directed to enter the gallery 
and seize the rulliaus, ascertaining who they are in 
the best way he can. Let him apprehend them and 
bring them to the bar of the Senate. Let him seize 
the bank ruffians. I hope they will not now be 
permitted to insult the Senate as they did when it 
was under the power of the Bank of the United 
States, when ruffians, with arms upon them, in- 
sulted us with impunity. Let them be taken and 
brought to the bar of the Senate. Here is one just 
above me, that may be easily identified, one of the 
bank ruffians ! ' ' 

The sergeant-at-arms went to the gallery, seized 
the ringleader and brought him to the bar, at which 
his colleagues left the gallery in haste. The man 
was allowed to go after vainly pleading for a chance 
to explain. This ended the disturbances, and the 
solemnities of the occasion were not again interftired 
with. 

Thus the long contest was closed and Jackson 
showed his appreciation of the service by inviting 



THE NATIONAL BANK 163 

all the expungers and their wives to a dinner where 
Benton took the post of honor, since the President 
was too weak to attend ; and a merry time was had 
toasting Jackson and the Jacksonians. ' 

Meantime the bank recharter question died. In 
the Whig administration of 1841-5, under the 
leadership of Clay, two bank bills were passed 
and both were vetoed by Tyler. The bank secured 
a Pennsylvania charter and soon went into in- 
solvency. Our present national banks established 
during the Civil War have no likeness whatever to 
the two institutions which were so long factors in 
national politics. They more nearly represent in 
their actual business relations the state banks of 
the Jacksonian period, though the latter had no 
federal supervision and were frequently un- 
sound. 

His contest in behalf of the expunging resolution \ 

was Benton's last important personal service to / 

' During the angry debates over censure, Jackson had the 
Benton bullet, received in the Tennessee brawl, extracted from 
his slioulder. There is some doubt whether Jesse or Thomas 
Benton fired the shot. Jackson's latest biographer states that it 
was Thomas and that Jackson offered him the bullet as a 
souvenir, which was declined. Other biographers affirm that 
it was .Jesse. Thomas says nothing about it, and it is prob- 
able that in the mSUe no one knew certainly who fired the 
shot. 



L64 THO:\rAS H. BENTON 

Fackson, aud it practically concluded a political 
(alliance that is one of the strangest in our history. 
It is impossible to overestimate the service which 
Benton rendered his chief. Jackson's defects were 
so many and so radical that unless he had been sus- 
tained by strong men he must necessarily have suf- 
fered in popular estimation and might never have 
be^n re-elected. It was his good fortune to have at 
his right hand a man who served him with a de- 
votion and an unselfishness which have seldom been 
equaled. Benton owed nothing to Jackson for his 
election or continuance in ofBce at any time. He 
nevtr asked a personal favor of him, refused many 
honors which were offered him, and was never even 
a member of his '' Kitchen Cabinet." Moreover at 
\a time when Jackson was surrounded by a set of 
sycophants and ofBce-seekers, men who crooked the 
pregnant hinges of the knees that thrift should fol- 
low their fawning, and who succeeded admirably 
in filling their pockets with ill-gotten gains, Ben- 
ton had clean hands. In all this saturnalia of po- 
litical jobbery and robbery of the public, he took 
, no part and never gained a penny. 

In the partnership the advantage was all Jack- 
son's except what inhered to Benton in his con- 
sciousness of duty done. Benton was no prude and 



THE NATIONAL BANK 165 

did not set himself u^) to be better than the rest of 
mankind. He liked politics but he played the 
game in a large way and would not be turned from 
a chosen course by any considerations. In one of 
the last panegyrics which Benton dedicated to 
Jackson, his final speech on the expunging resolu- 
tion, the senator from Missouri said : 

''Great is the confidence which he has always 
reposed in the discernment and equity of the Amer- 
ican people. I have been accustomed to see him 
for many years, and under many discouraging 
trials ; but never saw him doubt, for an instant, 
the ultimate support of the people. It was my 
privilege to see him often, and during the most 
gloomy period of the panic conspiracy, when the 
whole earth seemed to be in commotion against 
him, and when many friends were faltering, and 
stout hearts were quailing before the raging storm 
which bank machination and senatorial denunci- 
ation had conjured up to overwhelm him. I saw 
him in the darkest moments of this gloomy period ; 
and never did I see his confidence in the ultimate 
support of his fellow -citizens forsake him for an 
instant. He always said the people would stand by 
those who stand by them ; and nobly have they 
justified that confidence ! That verdict, the voice 






16G THOMAS H. BENTON 

of millions, which now demands the expurgation of 
that sentence, which the Senate and the bank then 
pronounced upon him, is the magnificent response 
of the people's hearts to the implicit confidence 
which he then reposed in them. But it was not in 
the people only that he had confidence ; there was 
another, and a far higher Power, to which he con- 
stantly looked to save the country and its defend- 
ers, from every danger ; and signal events prove 
that he did not look to that at high Power in 
vain." 
Although long in the minority in the Senate, 
yfeenton always fought manfully and doggedly. A 
/visitor at this i)eriod refers to him as a '^ gnarled 
/ oak," It hardly seems a happy simile, though it 
/ must have had some application in the fact that he 
stood unbending in the storm of opposition to 
Jackson. Others called him a "wild buffalo." A 
man of less stamina would have succumbed : one of 
less courage and devotion would have abandoned 
the contest many times. Benton did not love a fight 
for its own sake but he never avoided one, and 
when once engaged in it he followed as far as pos- 
lible the advice of Polonius. 

With his increasing influence and power as his 
faction got into conti-ol he lost none of his vanity, 



THE NATIONAL BANK 167 



> 



which after all was of a very harmless sort. He 
seemed to feel the weight of the country ou his 
shoulders aud never underestimated his abilities in 
any direction. He sat in the Senate during every 
hour of the session, watching every movement and 
nagging the opposition in a way that was not al- 
ways dignified or pleasant. Still that was an ac- 
cepted part of the proceedings at the time and was 
indulged in by nearly all of the leaders on both 
sides. 

Benton's tendency to talk on all occasions in-; 
creased as he felt himself to be the mouthpiece of the j 
administration and as has been said he was not al-' 
ways a pleasing speaker. He was dogmatic, imper- 
ious and so devoted to wild western manners, it is 
related, that he usually spoke to empty galleries 
and often to empty seats in the chamber. ' This 
did not discomfit him in the least. He spoke for 
those outside the Senate though he often criticised 
others for doing the same thing. He contributed to 
the Globe with a trenchant pen and inspired Blair 
in much that the latter wrote. His energy knew no^ 
bounds and to this and the fact that he was stead- 
fast may be attributed much of the success he 
achieved, for he was a sound rather than a talented^ 
'" Reminiscences " of Ben Perley Poore. 



168 THOM^^ H. BENTON 

man. He was able to accomplish so much more than 
many of his more brilliant contemporaries because 
he allowed nothing to interfere with his work, and 
his industry received its reward. 



CHAPTER Vm 

''old bullion" 

If in these years Benton's sole task had been to \ 
kill the National Bank the achievement would J 
have been of little credit to him. His main purpose \ 
was to establish gold and silver as the standards J 
of value in the nation. This he did but not until 
the country had passed through fiery trials. State 
banks were not all sound but they managed 
for a time to thrive for the reason that busi- 
ness, which had been dull, revived after the N'a- 
tional Bank had lost the deposits. It was evident 
to Benton that the situation was far from satisfac- 
tory and that something must be done to improve 
the currency. It is much to his honor and greatly 
also to the credit of the many leaders who opposed 
the President's bank policy that some remedial 
legislation was enacted. Benton had always op-^ 
posed any sort of national paper currency and be- 
lieved that coin only should be used, asserting in- 
deed that it alone was constitutional money. 

Banking at this time was scarcely a science 



170 THOMAS H. BENTON 

except with a few of the larger institutions. In 
fairness to the National Bank, in spite of polit- 
ical attacks upon it, it should be said that it well 
maintained its credit through most of its career. 
It is true that in the early management there had 
been looseness which required a new administration, 
but the system was now so excellent that it was 
called the Gibraltar of American credit. The banks 
of New England, New York and Pennsylvania as a 
rule maintained specie payments except in times of 
great distress. But as one moved South and West 
the bills of state banks were accepted only accord- 
ing to a depreciated scale. The merchant found 
great difficulty in doing business when there were 
in circulation so many kinds of bills of such 
varying value and in addition such large num- 
bers of counterfeits. The most indispensable book 
in any business house was the ' ' Counterfeit De- 
tector " with a table giving the scale of exchange at 
which bills were received in various places. 

Others were equally affected. The farmer who 
sold his grain had to scrutinize with the greatest 
care the notes offered him and not infrequently 
sustained heavy losses. The worst sufferer of all 
was the wage-earner who worked for an unscrupu- 
lous employer. The latter would often purchase 



''OLD BULLION" 171 

depreciated notes aud pay his hands in these at face 
value, any refusal to accept them being met with 
dismissal. One of the largest of American bank- 
ing houses was established by a German portrait 
painter who roamed from one section of the coun- 
try to another and found in buying and selling 
bank notes a greater profit than in painting pic- 
tures. 

Bad as was the condition of the currency at this 
time there was no denying the fact that it had been 
a great deal worse during those years when there 
had been no National Bank. Even Madison had 
been obliged to admit that fact and those strict 
constructionist Democrats who had looked upon 
Hamilton's first bank as a monster of iniquity were 
compelled to permit the establishment of a second. 
If the partisans of the bank had been more honest, 
more adroit and had seemed to have less personal 
interest in its fortunes, the result would have been 
better for the recharter movement. Clay and Web- 
ster were correct in pointing out the great advan- 
tages that had accrued through its operations. 
They believed that the country would never be 
able to get along without it and doubted whether 
any alternative could be supplied sufficient for the 
public needs. It was generally agreed that it 



172 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

would be a good thing if the nation were on a 
specie basis, but to most business men the obstacles 
iseemed insurmountable. 

Benton appears to have missed the essential idea 
that, in business, credit is as important as money, and 
that under proper restrictions credit money is ab- 
solutely essential to prosperity. He did not under- 
stand that when coin formed so small a part of the 
money supply of the nation it would be a difiicult 
task to get it into circulation. Gresham's law that 
bad money drives out good had been tested in this 
country. Coin and the best notes were hoarded 
while every one got rid of depreciated or doubtful 
notes or bad coin at the first opportunity. At this 
time we had scarcely any gold in the country be- 
cause the standard of fifteen to one established by 
Jefferson had proven to be an incorrect ratio. The 
true ratio was less than sixteen to one and there it 
long remained. To get gold into circulation Ben- 
ton secured the passage of laws fixing the ratio 
at sixteen to one, though he preferred the exact 
fraction. A branch mint was established at New 
Orleans and through his efforts gold coins were 
restored to the currency of the country. Benton's 
''mint drops," as they were called, were very pop- 
ular. They aided Jackson in the fall elections and 



"OLD BULLION" 173 

were the first gold coins which many of the people 1 
had ever seen. Even the ardent friends of the bank / 
could not fail to see that gold was the best money, if / 
enough of it could be secured, and in a short time 
the country did have a large amount of it in circu,' 
lation, since it came back from Europe under the 
new ratio which overvalued it. 

Being scientifically incorrect one of the results of 
the change of ratio was to send abroad some of the 
silver, which alarmed the administration. In its 
efforts to bring silver into use again it refused de- 
posits to banks which emitted notes of a smaller de- 
nomination than five dollars, though it could not 
prevent a large number of these from being issued 
by other banks. Coin was popular and but for the 
crash that soon came the country might have passed 
over to a specie basis sooner than even Benton ex- 
pected. 

The measure which was more effectual than air, 
others in bringing coin into common use was the; 
celebrated specie circular which required that public j 
lands should be paid for in hard money. This was, 
a radical step and though eventually it would hav0 
been a most necessary one, it came at a rather in- 
opportune time as was soon manifested. The ne* 
cessity for this order lay in the fact that land sales 



174 THOMAS H. BENTON 

were now amounting to about forty millions a year, 
and, under the policy by which state bank notes 
were accepted in payment, there had been a great 
deal of speculation. Banks were springing up all 
over the country; the earlier total of five hundred 
was soon doubled. There was a craze for this 
sort of enterprise and even if the banks had been 
established on a sound basis there was no need 
for so many. As a matter of fact many of them 
were the flimsiest sort of financial structures, erected 
under loose general laws or charters granted by too 
accommodating legislatures. It seemed easy to 
print money and get rich and for a time there en- 
sued a fictitious prosperity. 

Under an act of Congress the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury was given discretionary power in receiving the 
notes of banks for public lands, but up to this time 
he had never interfered in the matter. So long as the 
notes were actually redeemable in specie little dam- 
age was done, but with many banks this was an un- 
certain quantity, and they were liable to break under 
any unusual stress. The fact that such an enormous 
business was done in purchasing lauds with notes 
bought at a discount showed how hollow was the pre- 
tense of the system of specie payments which the gov- 
ernment maintained. Still the evil was one that was 



"OLD BULLION" 175 

not 80 great until the craze for new banks broke out 
and the people engaged in land speculation. Much 
of this paper was in fact irredetiiuable and when the 
land sales amounted to five millions a mouth it was 
evident that there was danger lest the lands would 
be lost to the government, owing to the prospect of 
its being unable to redeem much of the currency 
paid for them. Benton endeavored to secure the 
passage of a law requiring coin to be used in pay- 
ment for lands. This was a total failure partly be- 
cause the people were still wild over paper money 
and partly, as Benton asserted, because so many 
members were actively engaged in land speculation 
on their own account. 

In 1836 he again proposed to the President that 
specie alone be accepted in payment for land and 
though '■'■ Old Hickory " was not a great financier he 
endorsed the plan. He discovered that his cabinet 
was strongly opposed to the measure so he called 
them in session, and had Benton in an ante- room 
where he wrote out the executive order which was 
signed at once to the disgust of the members of the 
cabinet, the wrath of land speculators and the dis- 
tress of many honest purchasers. In the end it 
jjroved a salutary measure. As it was, the injury 
bad been so great that much of the currency re- 



176 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

ceived from the sales turned out to be absolutely 
worthless. 

/J The financial measures of Benton, for they were 
his and his almost alone, proved to have more last- 
ing value than any other legislation of the time. 
It is true that if the bank had been rechartered we 
might have had no panic of 1837 but that is one of 
those hypothetical statements made by politicians 
for political effect, the truth of which can well be 
I doubted. Even the bank might have gone down 
\ and certainly would have done so had it not mended 
I its ways. It is also quite unlikely, even if it had 
I remained sound, that the prosperity- of the country 
\ could have continued Avithout the periodical depres- 
sion. We have had panics in this country about 
every twenty years with a regularity that cannot be 
laid entirely at the door of legislation, though they 
may have been to some extent induced by it. The 
truth is that there is in the optimistic, reckless 
American spirit a tendency to speculation that can- 
not be embed, no matter how fair the warning or 
how grave the former experience. 

It was certain that we could not indefinitely con- 
tinue on a paper basis and the fact that Benton was 
the first to foresee the need of coin and to fight un- 
til he attained success stamps him as one of the 



''OLD BULLION" 177 

great constructive statesmen of the age. In this 
work he had the support of some of the friends of 
the bank, but Clay was adamant to the last, oppos- 
ing not only the new standard but the establishment 
of branch mints. It is greatly to be regretted that 
so enlightened a statesman as Clay, one so potential 
for good in the country, should at various times 
have allowed personal spleen or misguided judg- 
ment to stand in the way of progress. 

Benton, however, was not to escape without much\ 
censure for his acts. As coin came into circulation \ 
the poorer classes were benefited, but there were \ 
many who found their profits diminished by the \ 
process and there were others who saw in the meas- \ 
ure a fatal blow at the bank. Benton was dubbed I 
"Old Bullion" and given other titles in derisioax^ 
which finally came to be badges of honor. By his 
new currency law and the executive order the 
Democratic party was eventually divided into two 
factions, the "Hards" and the "Softs," and 
though the distinction was at first on a question of 
finance it finally came to have local applications 
quite distinct from the currency. 

Directly and indirectly it is clear that Jackson's 
war on the bank brought much disaster, although 
it was practically not anything like as great as 



178 THOMAS H. BE^s'TON 

was attributed to his action; and it can becoufideutly 
asserted tliat we should not have escaped some 
set-backs if Jackson had been the most ardent 
supporter of the institution which it was his chief 
delight to attack. Looking back over the nearly 
seventy years which have elapsed since that time 
we can see that whatever errors may be attributed to 
the administration the establishment of the specie 
standard is one of the most beneficent in our his- 
tory. 

/ The specie standard is the most enduring monu- 
/ment to Benton. It cannot of course be claimed 
/ for him that he is responsible for the legislation of 
I recent years, but it can truthfully be said that with- 
I out the legislation which he secured our present 
I standard might never have been established, or 
I would have been attained with greater difB- 
Iculty. To the pioneer always belongs the credit 
land what others might have done is of less con- 
sequence than the fact that Benton actually did put 
coin into general circulation where formerly there 
was only paper, much of which was depreciable 
and some of it valueless. 

It would seem as if some happy genius had pre- 
sided over the politicnl destinies of Andrew Jack- 
sou. His enemies said that he had good luck and 



''OLD BULLION" 179 

certainly it would seem more than a mere coinci- 
dence that he had no sooner left the capital after 
installing his successor and presenting him with his 
cabinet than the greatest financial crisis in our his- 
tory up to that time confronted the country. 
Already there had been mutterings of the storm, 
but now it broke in all its fury and conditions were 
deplorable. Banks suspended specie payments, 
many went into bankruptcy, business men failed, 
industry of every sort contracted ; there was 
disti-ess from one end of the country to the other 
and the wail that arose was well-nigh unanimous. 
The government lost millions in the state bank 
depositories which failed and this was the hardest 
blow at Benton's policy. 

As Jackson had received the benefit of prosperity, 
whether responsible for it or not, the administra- 
tion now had to suifer for evil times and was held 
guilty of all that had occurred. Van Buren had 
been a staunch Jackson man so that he could not 
escape censure even if he had so desired. No ad- 
ministration ever started out under more unfavor- 
able circumstances. The Whigs had no difficulty 
in indicting the administration and the Democratic 
party in general, and laid the blame to the following 
causes : Failure to recharter the bank ; removal 



180 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

of the deposits ; the specie circular ; maladminis- 
tration of financial affairs ; deposit of money in 
banks which failed ; the tariff compromise ; de- 
falcation of public officials. 

There is no doubt that these were contributing 
causes but it would be diflBcult to prove that they 
were the only factors, or that these measures 
were all of them vicious in all of their workings. 
It was a difficult task for the supporters of the ad- 
ministration to explain the situation. They could 
not do so with general satisfaction. Nothing ex- 
cuses ''hard times." Benton, however, went man- 
fully to the task, feeliDg his own conscience pretty 
clear. In February when the storm was seen by him 
to be impending he knew that something must be 
done and for the purpose invited the president-elect, 
then vice-president, into a committee room to dis- 
cuss the matter with him. As Benton was really 
responsible for most of the financial legislation of 
the Jackson administration it was natural that he 
should desire to give what aid he could and he ex- 
pected to be well received. On the contrary as soon 
as the subject was opened Van Buren remarked : 

*' Your friends think you are a little exalted in 
the head on the subject." 

This statement angered Benton and he said no 



<'OLD BULLION" 181 

more but left the room, muttering to himself, " You 
will soon feel the thunderbolt." Later he regretted 
his exhibition of temper but it is doubtful if he 
could have had much influence with Van Buren in 
any event. This i s a side-light on B enton's char- 
acter and exhibits the temper of the times. Busi- 
ness was^l~fMt ' time moving under fair skies and 
few looked for stormy weather.^ 

After the panic began Benton made many 
speeches in the Senate. He referred to the charges 
against the Democratic party and answered them 
seriatim. He attacked the bank as the Red Harlot 
and asserted that it and other banks had purposely 
brought on the crisis to hurt the administration. 
This was no new idea of his. He had thought the 
same thing a few years before and nothing in Ben- 
ton's career is quite so unsatisfactory as this opin- 
ion which he so often reiterated. Banks do not 
commit suicide. It is possible that at times the 
Bank of the United States did go outside its normal 
sphere of activity to bring pressure to bear on poli- 
tics, and even may have done a good deal that is dis- 
creditable ; but to blame it and the other banks for 
bringing on a crisis to ruin the government for polit- 
ical reasons and necessarily ruin themselves is not 
' Benton's "Thirty Years' View." 



182 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

logical and shows how prejudiced Beutou had be- 
come against the institution which he had fought 
so long. On the other hand it cannot be said that 
the failure to recharter the bank was alone or even 
largely responsible for its o>vn failure or the panic 
which ensued, though this act did something to 
disturb business conditions. 

As to the removal of the deposits the only direct 
influence of that policy in bringing about the panic 
was in the rearrangement of business which ensued, 
since the money was still available for public use. 
As a matter of fact in the end it did not advantage 
these banks, for they failed almost without excep- 
tion, and very little was ever recovered by the gov- 
ernment. If the National Bank had retained the 
deposits it might have weathered the storm, but 
the management had now become so reckless that 
it is not safe to say the country would have been 
better off in the end. 

The bitterest attack was on the specie circular. 
It is ti-ue that this circular had made necessary the 
use of an immense amount of specie, but according 
to Benton, under the operation of his own l;'gisla- 
tion, the fund had increased in a few years from 
twenty millions to one hundred millions. It had 
acquainted the people with hard money. Depre- 



"OLD BULLION" 183 

ciated bank notes were no longer the principal 
medium of exchange. The worst that can be said 
of this order is that it was premature. The same 
results might have been attained gradually, but 
that it was a proper principle is evidenced by the 
fact that it survived until the Civil War. 

Of the defalcation of many of Jackson's officials 
there is no doubt whatever and no defense. At 
no previous time had the public service been so 
disgracefully debauched, but this scandal had noth- 
ing to do with the panic. Benton asserted with 
truth that much of the misery of the time was due 
to the fictitious prosperity that had come from the 
sudden expansion of paper currency. There were 
now in the country a thousand banks which issued 
currency, and few of them had anything like the 
proper reserve in coin, — many of them had not 
proper assets of any kind. The people had gone 
wild in speculation and had run deeply into debt. 
Merchants had imported enormous amounts of 
foreign goods in anticipation of good times so that 
when the banks suspended. May 10th, the whole 
fabric went to the ground at once. And with it went 
for the time being the fortunes of the Democratic ; 
party. 

Benton did his best in this crisis. He supported 



184 THOMAS H. BENTON 

the admiuistratiou and made many speeches. In 
spite of distress, in spite of the fact that at the next 
election the administration would lose the House, 
no change was made, except through the establish- 
ment of the independent treasury system by which 
the government was completely divorced from 
banks of any sort. The country had gone over 
completely to a specie basis. This was the triumph 
of Benton's policy. For this he had contended for 
nearly twenty years, and even if it be granted that 
he had in some cases acted too precipitately and 
taken positions that were too radical, it is certain 
that the object was worthy of great sacrifice. 

These were not altogether pleasant days for the 
great Missourian, though he fared better than some 
members of his party. Since he was known as the 
father of the system of specie payments and was 
called a '' gold bug," the blame of much of the dis- 
tress was laid upon his shoulders. He was now 
dubbed ''Old Humbug," and lampooned bitterly. 
All sorts of imitation money were issued on which 
the rude pictures sought principally to assail the 
Democratic party and Benton in particular. Many 
of these were sent him accompanied by insulting 
letters, and they seem to have moved him to more 
or less anger ; but he never for a moment wavered 



"OLD BULLION" 185 

in his belief that he had acted properly in all legis- 
lative matters, laying the hard times at the door of 
the bank, the politicians and, in some measui-e, to 
the land sui'plus bill which he had bitterly op- 
posed. 

Benton's championship of cheap lands for the 
settler brought him into conflict constantly with 
those congressmen who opposed the motion to dis- 
tribute among the states the surplus from sales. 
Here he came into further antagonism with Clay. 
The elections of 1836 were approaching and the 
Whig party was in a state of discouragement. 
Clay was not a candidate, and had announced that 
he never would be again, which was a useless and 
untrue declaration since he thrice more was 
tempted. The compromise tariff of 1833 settled 
that subject for the present, since to have disturbed 
it would have once more aroused the sleeping lion 
in Calhoun and the nullifiers. Internal improve- 
ments had been abandoned even by Clay. The 
bank charter could not be extended except under 
circumstances which seemed unlikely to exist. 
The Whigs had fixed on no candidate, which was 
singular, since several states had favorite sons ; but 
uo attempt was made to consolidate in favor of any 
one, the intention being to await the result of the 



186 THO:\rAS H. BEXTON 

elections. Clay considered that he ought to per- 
foiju a service for the party, and at the same time 
execute a long cherished plan. The sales of public 
lands had increased so rapidly that after the debt was 
paid the surplus promised to be so great that some- 
thing must be done with the money. Clay, as we 
have seen, secured the passage in 1833 of a law dis- 
tributing the surplus from land sales, as a part of 
his tariff compromise scheme. The states desired 
the money and it was natural they should consider 
that it belonged to them since it was an asset fast 
disappearing. If the money were not needed by 
the government what could be more proper than to 
give it back to the people ? 

There was much dissension over this bill and its 
passage was delayed until nearly the last hours of 
the session of 1833. Before this time it had not 
been customary to pass such important measures so 
near the end of the session, since the President was 
accustomed to consider them well and seek the ad- 
vice of his cabinet. Jackson was opposed to the 
measure which was brought to him in the room at 
the capitol used by him when he signed appropria- 
tion bills now for the first time delayed in passage. 
Benton called on the President and they counseled 
together over the bill. The matter had been 



"OLD BULLION" 187 

threshed out so thoroughly in Congress that that 
body was disposed to stand by its action as Jack- 
sou well knew. He hesitated to veto the bill at 
once for fear it would be passed over his head. He 
asked Benton to look over the Senate and see how 
the members stood. When the latter returned he 
advised that there was danger for which reason 
Jackson took no action and thus the bill fell by the 
first "pocket veto" in our history. 

At the next session Clay in high dudgeon 
attacked the President for his course, and Ben- 
ton as usual defended Jackson, pointing out 
that the Constitution evidently intended that 
the President should have ten days in which 
to consider a bill. The remedy which Con- 
gress had at hand, he said, was to pass the bill in 
time. This was sound sense but it has never be- 
come a fixed principle of action and many meas- 
ures have suffered the same fate because of the tend- 
ency to delay so much important legislation until 
the closing hours of the session. Clay made a great 
speech on the veto and its abuses in which he paid 
his compliments to Jackson and Benton and that 
was all that came of the incident. 

In every succeeding session some such plan for 
the distribution of the surplus was proposed but 



188 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Benton opposed it to the last. In 1836 just before 
the presidential election Clay came to the front 
once more with a sm-plus distribution bill. Origi- 
nally it was a deliberate proposal for disposing of 
all the surplus in the treasui-y exceeding five mil- 
lions of dollars, which was considered a sufficient 
working capital. In spite of Benton's resistance 
the measure passed and went to the House where 
it met with unexpected opposition. There were 
members in plenty anxious for the money, but it 
was hard for many of them to convince themselves 
that the payment would be constitutional. It was 
in derogation of so much they had striven for in 
the past that a majority could not be mustered for 
the biU. At this juncture a measure dealing with 
I the regulation of the public moneys in the state 
' banks was being discussed in Congress and some 
; one conceived the notion that the two might be 
consolidated in a way that would salve the con- 
sciences of the strict constructionists. The money 
as received was deposited in the state banks and 
now it was proposed that the surplus be ''de- 
posited" with the states according to their Con- 
gressional representation. On its face this meant 
I that the Federal government might call for the 
money whenever it pleased. As a matter of fact 



! 



*'OLD BULLION" 189 

no such call was ever contemplated even by those 
who devised the trick to save themselves from cen- 
sure. When the bill in this shape came back to 
the Senate, Benton attacked it furiously. He seems 
to have been the one sane man in finance in this entire 
period and he explained in advance exactly what 
was likely to happen. But the spirit of cupidity 
had been aroused and, with plausible reasons for 
every one, the bill passed, Benton mustering in 
opposition only a few votes besides his own. 
Jackson signed the measure and this is said to have 
been his only important political act which he 
afterward regretted. It is likely the bill would 
have been passed over his head in any event but 
that consideration probably did not influence Jack- / 
son so much as his fear that a veto might unfavor- 
ably affect the candidacy of Van Buren. This is 
one of the occasions when he did not consult 
Benton, who afterward thought that the President 
might have been induced to veto the measure if he 
had asked the advice which some of his nearest 
friends were willing to give. 

The money was to be paid in four quarterly 
instalments. The first was paid in specie, the 
second with difficulty in lawful money, the third in 
depreciated bank paper and the fourth was never 



190 THOMAS II. BEXTON 

paid at all ; for by this time the panic had come 
aud the government so far from having any sur- 
plus faced a deficit. Under the circumstances one 
might suppose that the states would have been 
satisfied with the largess of 829,000,000, but ou 
the contrary, and in spite of hard times, they de- 
manded the fourth instalment as a right, making 
desperate elforts to compel its payment though 
without success. To this day that sum stands on 
the books of the Federal government against the 
states ; legally it is a claim but it is of course 
worthless. 

The use made of the money shows how absurd 
and vicious was the law and fully confirmed Ben- 
ton in all he had said. Some of the states divided 
the money pro rata among the inhabitants, which 
meant nothing more or less than putting it into 
immediate circulation, as the amount per capita 
was very small. Others gave the money to the 
counties which employed it more or less extrava- 
gantly either in new enterprises or in reducing tax- 
ation. Still others used it as a nucleus of an immense 
fund for internal improvements, — for building 
railways, canals and the like, most of which were 
started on the assumption that the distribution was 
to continue for many years. When the collapse 



"OLD BULLION" 191 

came some of the states found themselves with 
enormous debts aud no resources. Probably there 
has never been expended in this country a similar 
sum of money for which there was so little return. 
It was a bad principle and it worked ill for the 
reason that people seldom appreciate what comes 
to them too easily. Like the money the gambler 
wins, it is soon spent and often most unwisely. 

Benton as Chairman of the Military Committee / 
of the Senate had asked that this large sum be de- 
voted to fortifications. It had been estimated that 
one hundred millions could be expended in this man- 
ner with worthy results. Benton had also wished 
the price of lands reduced to the settler and j 
brought forward for the first time, it seems, a home- 
stead law by which any man or woman might 
obtain one hundred and sixty acres of the public do- 
main by living on it for five years and investing a 
certain amount of labor and money in the improve- 
ment of it. This was so wild a scheme that, with 
his insistence on the use of gold for currency, his 
killing of the bank, his attacks upon all kinds of 
paper money and his proposal now to give away 
land, many considered Benton a fit candidate for a 
lunatic asylum. Yet every one of these things in 
time came to pass and it may be said truly that the 



192 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

cift of public lands to the industrious poor of this 

/country has had more to do with our rapid national 

/ development than any other single policy which 

/ has been adopted. After the Civil War hundreds 

/ of thousands of young men rushed into the West to 

/ take up the new lands and became the backbone of 

I that section. Benton was the father of the cheap 

J land system, and it is curious that Clay almost 

j invariably opposed him. Clay felt that it was bet- 

' ter to keep up the price and distribute the surplus 

while Benton truly believed that wealth is largest 

in the country which has the greatest number of 

prosperous inhabitants. 

During the summer of 1837 he failed to make his 
customary tour of Missoui'i on the stump because 
his aged mother was very ill and he could not be 
persuaded to leave her bedside ; but he wrote many 
long letters to his constituents in which he ex- 
plained his position. In these months his name 
was suggested in various parts of the country for 
the presidency or the vice-presidency and he re- 
ceived many invitations to complimentary public 
dinners at Cincinnati, Louisville and elsewhere. 
All these he declined. He had never accepted such 
kindnesses but once or twice and then only at his 
home. To Tammany Hall which offered him a 



"OLD BULLION" 193 

diuuer and suggested the vice-presidency he wrote 
that he had no ambitions in either direction and 
that be favored the renoniination and re-election of 
Van Buren.* 

He was shrewd enough, however, to see that the 
fortunes of his party were waning. WTien Ten- 
nessee, against the warning of "Old Hickory," 
gave an overwhelming majority to the Whig ticket, 
almost breaking Jackson's heart, it brought home 
to Benton a consciousness that the administration, 
even if as able and puie as he believed, was not 
likely to retain a hold on the people until the resto- 
ration of prosperity. This would return slowly. 
Although the Eastern banks as a rule resumed 
specie payments within a year, the disturbance of 
business had been so great that the country at 
large, which continued to hurl anathemas at Van 
Buren, recovered very gradually. It was solemnly 
charged that hemstitched linen dish-cloths were 
used at the White House in a time of great public 
distress. Van Buren failed to get his second term ; 
the prize which Clay had so dearlj'^ longed for was 
snatched from him by a parliamentary trick at the 
Whig Convention, and Harrison was nominated and 
triumphantly elected. 

' Niles' Register. 



CHAPTEE IX 

THE OREGON QUESTION 

There was much of interest during the ad- 
ministration of Tyler, who followed Harrison in the 
"White House upon the President's early death, in 
which Benton bore a conspicuous part. Webster 
who had remained in the cabinet to complete the 
treaty with Lord Ashburton for the adjustment of 
several accumulated differences with Great Britain, 
and was unceremoniously relieved of his place as 
soon as he had performed that task, was striving to 
adjust all the various unsettled difficulties between 
the two governments. When Lord Ashburton came 
to this country on a special mission it was felt that 
no one except Webster was equal to the work in hand 
but, according to the view of Benton, the Massa- 
chusetts statesman was clay in the potter's hand. 

We had several grievances and Great Britain only 
one. The Canadian boundary along the Maine 
frontier, according to the British view, should be set 
back to give a tolerably direct road to Halifax. 
With that fine disregard of geography with which 
treaties dealing with unknown territory are made, 



THE OEEGOX QUESTION 195 

it so happened that we gained more by the actual 
survey than was expected and really more than 
was just to Canada. Our strategic position, how- 
ever, was excellent and a wiser diplomatist than 
Webster would have used this advantage in trade. 
For instance, we desired a definition of the Oregon 
boundary line but Great Britain refused to take 
the matter up at the time, preferring to trust to 
some accident in the future. This was a mistake 
which Benton perceived. Although he was not 
one of the extremists, he was enough of a public 
man to know that this was the time for a settlement 
of a question which was to be entirely omitted from 
the treaty. We had a quarrel induced by an 
attack upon our sovereignty during the Fenian 
troubles in Canada, culminating in the affair in 
which the Caroline was seized, fired and set 
adrift to sweep over ]^iagara Falls. This question 
Great Britain refused to consider. We had a 
claim, which was small in Webster's eyes, for the 
value of slaves shipwrecked on British islands and 
set free. Benton resented this view, maintaining 
that they should not have been liberated ; they did 
not reach free soil in any normal way. He saw that 
if such a precedent were established there would 
be much irritation between the two countries over 



196 



THOMAS H. BENTON 



the slavery question, iu which view he was entirely 
correct. This subject was omitted from the treaty. 
Great Britain had never formally agreed that she 
would not impress our seamen and although the 
grievance was an old one, Benton thought it should 
be settled at once to avoid disagreements in the 
future. This was not done. Indeed, all that was 
accomplished, outside of the rectification of the 
Canadian frontier, was the establishment of an ex- 
tradition system and an agreement to participate 
in the suppression of the slave trade. 

It may seem strange that Benton should object 
particularly to the last provision, seeing that he 
considered the slave trade odious. He took the 
position that, under the circumstances, since we 
had received nothing in the treaty from Great 
Britain, we should not have agreed to a clause 
to carry out which would cost us millions. He 
thought Great Britain was not the country to grow 
suddenly virtuous on the slavery question, since 
her earlier career had been one in defense of the 
institution. She had fastened the evil upon this 
country in spite of many early efforts to get rid of 
it. In this position Benton does not appear to 
very great advantage. Of course it was a part of 
his general plan to prevent agitation. He foresaw 



THE OREGON QUESTIOI^ 197 

that the agreement would lead to friction but in 
this case his wisdom was open to question, since 
the suppression of the slave trade had become an 
absolute necessity owing to the boldness of the 
slavers who had no hesitancy in running cargoes 
into Cuba and even into this country by con- 
nivance with public officials. 

Financial affairs also attracted much of Benton's 
attention, for the government was again running 
behind in its receipts. It was difficult to borrow 
money on easy terms and resort was had to 
treasury notes. Benton was the watch- dog of the 
treasury in those days though he seems to have 
had the usual experience of such self-constituted 
officials, achieving only moderate success. The 
establishment in all respects was small as com- 
pared with that of modern times yet some ex- 
penditures seemed to Benton extravagant and he 
never ceased to decry appropriations when he 
thought them useless. As we have seen he desired 
the Navy reduced in size and the West Point 
Academy abolished. When the telegraph was in- 
vented it seemed to him that in conjunction with 
the railroad the art of defense would be so perfect 
that we could do very well with a small army and 
almost no navy. 



198 THOMAS H. BENTON 

When a train could reach the seacoast from St. 
Louis in sixty hours, he thought that such rapid 
disposition of forces made it unnecessary to have a 
large army, as he considered mobility superior to 
numbers. In a sense this view was correct but the 
Civil War demonstrated the weakness of the theory. 

One of the minor subjects of expense which he 
attacked was the coast survey. He thought 
this work should be undertaken by the officers 
of the Navy, instead of by a body of salaried 
men in civil life who seemed to him to be pro- 
tracting the task unnecessarily. Here again Ben- 
ton erred. The task is not yet completed, although 
the services of the men engaged in the work have 
been notable. 

Benton never had much appreciation of a large 
diplomatic service and though his eyes were con- 
stantly fixed on the Far East, he had his own ideas 
as to the methods to be employed if commerce were 
to be secured with that part of the world. When 
Caleb Cushing was sent as special envoy to the Em- 
peror of China and negotiated a treaty under most 
extraordinary circumstances, amounting almost to 
duress, Benton did not hesitate to attack him bit- 
terly. He alleged that much more could ha^e been 
achieved if greater courtesy and tact had been em- 



THE OEEGOX QUESTION 199 

ployed, in which view he was probably correct, as 
a train of troubles followed the first treaty, the 
scars from which have never yet been healed ; 
but he made more of the alleged derelictions of 
Gushing than now seem to have been justified. 
Benton's principal fault was that he could not easily 
be moderate in his denunciation of what he consid- 
ered wrong and when his auger fell upon an indi- 
vidual whom he felt had in any way violated 
national honor, the force of his displeasure was ter- 
rible in its expression. His temper was shown 
during many of the debates when he appeared as 
the champion of Tyler, the renegade Whig whom 
the real Whig leaders assailed vigorously. 

When the second tariff veto message reached the 
Senate in 1842, the floor and galleries were crowded. 
On conclusion of the reading a storm of hisses 
broke forth followed by applause. This was an 
unusual breach of the decorum of the Senate and 
Benton vehemently condemned the outrage. Of 
course he was delighted with the veto but he would 
have been as ready to attack his own friends as his 
enemies for hissing. He immediately called the at- 
tention of the chair to the situation and the presi- 
dent pro tern, rapped for order. This did not satisfy 
Benton, as he thought the raps should be on the 



200 



THOMAS H. BEXTON 






offenders' heads and not on the table. In an im- 
passioned speech he demanded that the rufl&ans who 
had hissed and whom he accused of being friends 
of the old bank should be brought before the bar 
of the Senate. For the moment this incident 
eclipsed the veto message in interest as several 
senators interposed, saying they had not heard the 
hisses and thought Mr. Benton was mistaken. 
That gentleman became aroused and made another 
fiery onslaught on his foes, alleging that he had dis- 
tinctly heard them and that such conduct was an 
outrage on the President as well as the Senate. 

It would appear from the testimony of other 
senators who were present that the hisses could not 
have been very loud or long and that Benton was 
probably unduly alert on this occasion. His mo- 
tion to have the offender brought to the bar of the 
Senate was resisted and Buchanan undertook the 
role of peacemaker. He had heard a slight hiss 
but thought the matter a trifling one and felt cer- 
tain that Benton would withdraw his motion, 
wh<'reupon that Senator cried out : ''I never will, 
so help me God." 

The discussion was prolonged for some time and 
finally the man was discovered by the sergeant-at- 
arms and brought to the bar where he apologized 



THE OREGON QUESTION 201 

aud Benton, considering that the dignity of the 
Senate had been restored, permitted him to go. 

The incident may be considered a not very im- 
portant one but it is interesting as showing the 
manner in which Benton believed j)ublic business 
should be conducted. He had been the object of an 
assault on a somewhat similar occasion a few years 
before when the expunging resolution was passed 
and he was determined to put an end to it. 

Benton's earthly career was almost ended by the 
explosion of the gun Peacemaker on board the 
U. S. S. Princeton. The trip of this vessel down 
the Potomac in February, 1844, was a gala event. 
President Tyler was on board with Miss Gardiner, 
whom he was soon to marry, and most of the 
members of his cabinet as well as many dis- 
tinguished visitors were in the party. One of 
the events of the day was the firing of the great 
cannon that was so inappropriately named. There 
was some flaw in its construction or the charge was 
too heavy, and after a number of shots had been 
fired the gun burst, killing two members of the 
cabinet, one of the naval officers, and Mr. Gar- 
diner, the President's prospective father-in-law. 

Benton took a great deal of interest in the jour- 
ney and as the table had no pleasures for him, he 



202 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

busied himself in examining every feature of the 
boat and the gun. Undoubtedly he would have 
been among the slain had not one of the officers, 
knowing his interest in the subject, said to him that 
he could get a much better view if he would mount 
a gun carriage directly behind the Peacemaker and 
thus watch the course of the ball. This he did and 
was saved, though for a moment it was supposed 
that he was numbered among the victims. His own 
description of his experience at that moment, though 
cumbersomely written, is graphic. He says : 

"I saw the hammer pull back, heard a tap, saw 
a flash, felt a blast in the face, knew that my hat 
was gone ; and that was the last I knew of the 
world, or myself, for a time, of which I can give 
no account. The first that I knew of myself, or 
anything afterward, was rising up at the breach of 
the gun, seeing the gun itself split open — two sea- 
men, the blood oozing from their ears and nostrils, 
rising and reeling near me — Commodore Stockton, 
hat gone and face blackened, standing bolt upright, 
staring fixedly upon the shattered gun. I heard no 
noise — no more than the dead. I only knew that 
the gun had burst from seeing its fragments. I 
felt no injury, and put my arm under the head of a 
seaman, endeavoring to rise and falling back. By 



THE OEEGON QUESTION 203 

that time friends had run up and led me to the 
bow — telling me afterward that there was a super- 
natural whiteness in my face and hands — all the 
blood in fact having been driven from the sur- 
face. 

For myself I had gone through the experience of 
sudden death, as if from lightning, which extin- 
guishes knowledge and sensation and takes one out 
of the world without thought or feeling. I think 
I know what it is to die without knowing it — and 
that such a death is nothing to him that revives. 
The rapid and lucid workings of the mind to the 
instant of extinction, is the marvel that still as- 
tonishes me. I heard the tap, saw the flash, felt 
the blast, and knew nothing of the explosion. I 
was cut off in that inappreciable point of time 
which intervenes between the flash and the fire — 
between the burning of the powder in the touch- 
hole, and the burning of it in the gun. No mind 
can seize that point of time — no thought can meas- 
ure it ; yet to me it was distinctly marked, divided 
life from death — the life that sees, and feels, and 
knows — from death (for such it was for the time) 
which annihilates self and the world. And now is 
credible to me, or rather comprehensible, what per- 
sons have told me of a rapid and clear working of 



204 THOMAS H. BENTON 

the mind in sudden and dreadful catastrophies — as 
in steamboat explosions and being blown into the 
air and have the events of their lives pass in review 
before them, and even speculate on the chances of 
falling on the deck, and being crushed, or falling 
on the water and swimming ; and persons recovered 
from drowning, and running their whole lives over 
in the interval between losing hope and losing 
consciousness." 

This tragic event had a very considerable effect 
on politics, as the two cabinet vacancies were filled 
by men who up to this time had not been con- 
sidered for the posts, one of them being Cal- 
houn, 

\Yhen the Presidential election was coming on 
Tyler's enemies were determined that his am- 
bition to succeed himself should not be gratified. 
Calhoun perceiving that he could not be nomi- 
nated if the convention were held in December, as 
was expected, manoeuvred so that it was postponed 
until the spring of 1844. The Whigs were induced 
to take the same course. Van Buren was the can- 
didate of a large majority of the Democrats, and, 
if instructions had been followed would have been 
nominated, but the two-thirds rule was adopted 
and after having disposed of all the candidates, 



THE OEEGON QUESTION 205 

one by one (Calhoun having withdrawn before this 
time), James K. Polk, the first "dark horse " in the 
history of the presidency, was nominated. Great 
was the grief of the old stalwart Democrats, but as 
Polk could not be accounted a party to the affair, 
he was absolved from blame. 

Although the Oregon boundary was omitted from 
the Ashburton treaty, the subject was kept alive 
by an exchange of notes. Calhoun had agreed to 
extend the line along the forty-ninth parallel to 
the Pacific, expecting the proposal to be accepted ; 
but when the British desired the Columbia Eiver, 
he withdrew the offer. During the campaign of 
1844 the country was in a state of wild excitement 
over this northwestern boundary question. The 
Democratic convention had announced that the 
latitude fifty-four degrees and forty minutes was 
the very lowest we would take and throughout the 
campaign the party slogan was ' ' Fifty-four Forty 
or Fight." It was senseless, as such campaign 
cries are likely to be, for of those who prepared 
the party platform or raised the cry, not one 
had any intimate knowledge of the subject. 
It was a species of jingoism and at that time it was 
always safe for a party leader to rouse the people's 
passions against Great Britain by talking of real 



206 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

or fancied wrongs. The country was unduly excited 
over the subject and the prospects of war were by 
no means remote. 

President Polk in his inaugural address took 
strong ground and in his first message announced 
that "fifty -four forty" was our line and must be 
maintained. As the subject was then under nego- 
tiation this was not a diplomatic announcement. 
As a matter of fact, Polk was preparing for the 
Mexican War and did not desire a difiSculty with 
, Great Britain at the same time. The more he 
\ looked into the subject the more convinced he was 
that his own protestations and those of his party in 
favor of "fifty-four forty" had not a leg to stand 
in, but he was not disposed publicly to admit his 
I inistake. There was one man in public life at this 
time who was not afraid to say what he thought 
ind that man was Thomas H.Benton. He urged the 
\ president not to persist in a course which certainly 
liieant war and to take a position which in the 
Uyes of the world could not be maintained. For 
||wenty-five years Benton had studied the Oregon 
uestion. It will be remembered that he succeeded 
n saving that country to the Union when many 
ished to let it go. There was no living man who 
new so much about the subject and it was natural 



THE OREGON QUESTION 207 

that the President should turn to Benton though 
they were not then on intimate terms. 

Now developed one of the most curious of polit- 
ical situations. Benton stood up manfully and de- 
nounced the extremists. He said the claim could 
not be sustained. At this statement the press all \ 
over the United States again became furious against 
him. Probably no man in history has been more 
vilified than he was at this time. He was called 
a coward, a renegade, a friend of Great Britain, 
and all sorts of insinuations were leveled against 
him, except that he had any personal interest in 
the matter or was guided by financial or other 
base considerations. That charge was never 
brought so far as can be discovered, and if made 
it would have been palpably untrue. But the flood- 
gates of malice were turned loose against him and 
a common thief could not have been so much 
abused. During all this storm Benton stood firm. 
It must have wounded his vanity but he never 
changed his course. There were a few Democratic 
senators willing to express an opinion of the same 
sort, but there was another coterie of irreconcilables 
who continued to sympathize with the President 
and justify his extreme position. 

Polk was now in the attitude of the man in the 



\ 



208 THOMAS H, BENTON 

embrace of a bear who wanted some one to help 
him let go of the brute. In this dilemma he again 
sent for Benton and asked his aid. Benton told 
him frankly that he should accept the offer of the 
forty-ninth parallel which Great Britain had just 
made. To do anything else would make war inev- 
itable ; moreover the line was the only proper one. 
Polk asked Benton to see what the Whigs would do. 
Perhaps this was the first time in our history that the 
opposition was canvassed with a view to enlisting 
it on the side of the administration. Benton said 
that he believed he could secure enough senators to 
ratify the treaty, and in fact he did so after making 
a speech so logical and so full of information that 
no man who had not ulterior motives could resist 
its appeal. 

/ Another difficulty had arisen. Polk, feeling that 
he was committed on the other side and that he 
could not afford to do what he shovdd because of 
political considerations, was in a quandary when 
Benton proposed that he adopt the constitutional 
method of asking the advice of the Senate on the 
subject. This would break the fall. Polk did so 
and thereupon his organ, the Union, attacked Benton 
bitterly day after day, at the very time that he was 
ti'ying to carry out the President's wishes. A 



THE OEEGON QUESTION 209 

smaller man would not have submitted to such \ 
treatment, but Benton sought results and did not \ 
care for methods. He desired a peaceful and hon- \ 
orable settlement and by means of his great influ- J 
ence over the Whigs and those Democrats in the / 
Senate who were tractable, in 1846 the treaty was / 
confirmed. ■> 

It is difficult for us at this day to appreciate how 
much moral courage was required of Benton in this \ 
matter. Partisanship is less intense now than at \ 
that time, and a change of party affiliation more \ 
readily condoned. No man but Benton could have | 
withstood the wrath of the public and the opinion ^ 
of no other man.that the treaty was just^could have 
been made to prevail. 

Benton's interest in Oregon had now become per- 
sonal in a peculiar sense. There was in the regular 
army at this time a dashing young lieutenant, a 
topographical engineer, named John C. Fremont. 
As Benton had four beautiful daughters and Miss 
Jessie was the acknowledged belle of Washington, 
it was natural that Fremont should be a visitor at 
the house, where he soon became more than a cas- 
ual friend. If Benton had known that the young 
man was laying siege to the heart of his daughter, 
it is certain Fremont would have been ordered to 



210 THOMAS H. BENTON 

the most distant post in the laud. He liked Fre- 
mont, for the young officer had made a trip to 
Oregon with an exploring party and had brought 
back an immense amount of information concern- 
ing the country. He was meditating a second, 
which had been authorized by the War Department 
engineers. Naturally Benton desired to learn much 
from the young man and it soon became a case of 
Othello, Desdemona and Brabantio. Miss Jessie 
well knew that her father would never consent to 
her marriage to a poor lieutenant, so the young 
couple eloped. Terrible was the wrath of Benton, 
as his daughter had suspected. At first he thi-eat- 
ened all sorts of punishment but when his rage had 
cooled, his daughter managed, as pretty and intelli- 
gent girls usually will, to overcome his opposition 
and peace was restored in the family, though Ben- 
ton was long in forgiving Fremont and perhaps 
would not have done so at all had the latter not 
been made the subject of persecution. 

Fr6mont now hurried off on his second expedi- 
tion for he learned there was some likelihood that 
it would be postponed. He had only twenty-five 
men and with these he hastened to a post in west- 
ern Missouri, leaving his wife at her father's home 
in St. Louis. Fr^^mout's suspicious were correct. 



THE OREGON QUESTION 211 

When the War Department found that he had 
requisitioned a mountain howitzer, it became 
alarmed, fearing that the expedition would lead to 
unfortunate consequences as it looked to be military 
rather than scientific. Orders were at once de- 
spatched for his recall and he was charged person- 
ally with the cannon he had taken. The mail was 
forwarded to St. Louis, where the young and am- 
bitions wife took the precaution to open it and dis- 
creetly kept the letter of recall. Thus Fremont got 
away. This time his explorations were of more 
notable value. On his return he was complimented 
and brevetted, and soon prepared for a third expe- 
dition which had more serious consequences. 

Senator Benton upheld his daughter Jessie in all 
she had done in this matter, though she was wise 
enough not to tell him until the young man was 
well out of his reach. * 

' See Jessie Benton Fremont's sketch of her father's life. 



CHAPTEE X 



SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 



During Jackson's administratioDS the subject of 
slavery had been injected prominently into the 
Senate. As Benton frequently had occasion to 
remark, he was opposed equally to slavery agita- 
tion and slavery extension. He wished that things 
should be left as they were and on all occasions 
tried to smother discussion of a subject which was 
becoming more and more important every day, 
because of the acts of men both North and South. 
The pioneer anti-slavery society in the country 
was composed of Friends who were accustomed to 
meet yearly, passing resolutions and occasionally 
petitioning Congress on the subject. Usually their 
petitions were received and laid on the table with- 
out further action ; but in Jackson's second term 
both House and Senate were besieged by petitions 
not only from Friends and other organized societies 
but from hosts of individuals, all bearing upon one 
or another phase of the slavery question. These 
rapidly increased in ininibor after the nullification 



SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 213 

threats of Calhoun and his coterie. If the North 
thought that slavery was the cause of all the 
trouble, so did the South. The question at issue 
was whether more concessions should be made to 
the slave-power or whether the evil should be re- 
stricted wherever possible. The agitation which 
was started at this time, lasted for thirty years and 
resulted in the emancipation of the slave under 
most extraordinary circumstances. Nothing is 
more certain than that manumission would have 
been delayed for a long time, in the end probably 
being gradual, had not the ill-advised friends of 
slavery forced the issue at a time that they thought 
they were smothering it. The Abolitionists were 
just as radical and thus a crisis was reached. 

The postmaster-general having refused without 
warrant to carry through the mails certain news- 
papers containing diatribes against slavery which 
were declared to be '' incendiary," a bill was intro- 
duced making it a penalty for any postmaster or 
other Federal employee to forward such matter. 
This was a setting up of a public censorship that 
would have led to serious results. The bill was 
warmly endorsed by Calhoun who made speeches 
on the subject, in which he returned to his favorite 
topic of nullification and his prophecy as to the 



214 THOMAS H. BENTON 

breaking up of the republic unless the South 
could have its own way in the matter. 

One cannot but have a certain amount of sym- 
pathy for Calhoun who felt so deeply on this sub- 
ject and was doubtless as sincere as he was able. 
As a study in political pessimism his character is 
without an equal in our day. One trouble with 
him was that he assumed to speak for the whole 
South and all the slave-owners, whereas at this time 
he represented only a faction. If Calhoun could 
have kept silent, the bill might have passed ; but as 
he must renew his threats against the Union, there 
were those who would not follow him a step. Even 
Clay was dissatisfied with his own part in the 
previous compromise whereby South Carolina had 
been conciliated by a reduction of the tariff. Web- 
ster who had opposed the compromise and Benton 
who had also vigorously fought it, saw in Calhoun's 
conduct a justification for their action. They 
knew that he would never be satisfied and they did 
not intend to try to pacifj^ him any further. 

Benton deprecated the extreme views and meas- 
ures of the Abolitionists and in many instances 
jave them much less credit than they deserved. 

[is sympathies were with the slaveholders, in 
)eaceful possession of their legal rights, but he 



SLAVEEY AGITATION AND TEXAS 215 

may have been biased too much in their favor. 
One thing is certain : he altogether failed to see 
how impossible it was to suppress slavery agitation. 
He was continually crying peace, but there was no 
peace since in the controversy both sides were de- 
termined upon a war of extermination. In the 
postal censorship debate he had an angry colloquy 
with Calhoun in which the latter was censured for 
conjuring up ghosts to frighten the people. As to 
Calhoun's report on the bill Benton makes this 
comment, written many years afterward, — indeed 
after the last great comj)romise of 1850 had been 
effected : 

''The insidiousness of this report was in the as- 
sumption of an actual impending danger of the 
abolition of slavery in all the slave states ; the 
destruction of $950,000,000 of property -, the ocean 
of blood to be shed ; the war of extermination be- 
tween the two races and the necessity for extraor- 
dinary means to prevent these dire calamities; 
when the fact was, that there was not one particle 
of any such danger. The assumption was contrary 
to fact ; the report was inflammatory and disorgan- 
izing ; and if there was anything enigmatical in its 
conclusions it was sufficiently interpreted in the 
contemporaneous publications in the Southern slave 



216 THOMAS H. BENTON 

States which were open iu their declarations that a 
cause for separation had occurred, limited only by 
the conduct of the free states in suppressing within 
a given time the incendiary societies within their 
borders. This limitation would throw the respon- 
sibility of disunion upon the non-slaveholding 
states failing to suppress these societies." 

Fortunately there were other Southern men be- 
sides Benton who opposed Calhoun, among them 
Henry Clay, King of Georgia, and Leigh of Vir- 
ginia. The bill was confused with the petition of 
the Friends for the abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and the debates which ensued 
covered the whole ground. 

When it came to a vote on the bill Calhoun and 
his party saw that they were beaten, but they re- 
solved to prolong the contest. Van Buren, the 
Vice-president who was slated for the Democratic 
nomination to succeed Jackson, was singled out for 
attack. By leaving the Senate in precisely the re- 
quired numbers at various times while the debate 
was in progress, it was necessary for Van Buren 
to cast the deciding vote. When it came to the 
vote on engrossment the Vice-president was not 
in his seat, having retired behind the chair. Cal- 
houn was angry when he saw the chair empty and 



SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 217 

in a voice betraying his agitation, he cried out that 
the sergeant-at-arms must seek the Vice-president 
and bring him to the Senate. This was a petty 
performance, utterly unworthy of the man or the 
occasion. Van Buren, who was one of the most 
imperturbable of statesmen, calmly came forward 
and gave his casting vote for the engrossment. 
Calhoun hoped that this act would hurt Van Buren 
in the North, but it did not in the least. 

Benton had wearied of Calhoun's conduct and 
never ceased to inveigh against it, but he still in- 
sisted that there was no danger of serious sectional 
dispute. When the time came he was one of the 
sturdiest opponents of further compromise, but 
again he was outvoted by the radicals on both sides 
of Mason and Dixon's line who thought they knew 
so much better than he what was for the common- 
weal. 

One reason that led Benton to believe there was 
no desire on the part of the North or the South to 
interfere with the rights of slaveholders was that 
at this very session (1836-7) he had succeeded in 
having the limits of the state of Missouri extended 
at the extreme northwest so as to include a strip of 
very desirable land between the Missouri River 
and the former bouudai-y, — an alteration of that 



218 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

meridian which now bounds the greater part of the 
state ou the west. This was a body of land about 
the size of Delaware and in that section forever 
dedicated to freedom by the Missouri Compromise. 
To Benton's gratification there was only the feeblest 
objection to the extension and with it went slavery. 
He frequently pointed to this circumstance in after 
years to show that the North had no desire to act 
unfairly and it is a pity there were not enough en- 
lightened men to see that this was the case. The 
fact is that Benton was unblinded by prejudice in 
the matter while sooner or later most people be- 
came so imbued with their private views that they 
did not seek the truth, nor would they accept it 
when it was pointed out to them. This was dis- 
heartening to Benton who was optimistic almost to 
the last day of his life. 

At this session Michigan and Arkansas applied 
for admission as states although for neither of them 
had Congress passed enabling acts ; and their ap- 
plications were therefore considered premature. 
Special committees were appointed in the Senate to 
consider each petition. That of Michigan, the free 
state, was submitted to a committee of which Benton 
was chairman and that of the slave state to a com- 
mittee headed by Buchanan, so that here at least 



SLAVEKY AGITATION AND TEXAS 219 

there could be no fear that slavery would be un- 
justly treated by the North in the Senate. Benton 
with his usual liberality, especially toward the 
"West, reported that the haste of Michigan was not 
a matter of moment, that she was entitled to ad- 
mission and the bill passed easily. Arkansas was 
admitted by a still larger vote. Clay and four other 
senators being the sole opponents. In the House 
some excitement was caused by John Quiucy 
Adams' opposition to a clause in the constitution 
of Ai'kausas that seemed to make impossible the 
freeing of any slave. Adams said that he had his 
personal views about slavery but felt it his duty to 
permit Ai-kansas to enter the Union as a slave 
state. His amendment requiring a change in the 
constitution, failed to pass, although it was the 
subject of an all-night struggle. 

It was in this debate that Adams made the omi- 
nous statement not much thought of at the time but 
afterward remembered. He said that Congress in 
time of peace had no right to abolish slavery, by 
implication giving it as his opinion that the slaves 
could be emancipated in time of war, a discovery 
usually credited to President Lincoln. 

During the Van Buren administration the angry 
contest between the Abolitionists and the slave- 



220 THOMAS H. BENTON 

holders over the right of petition took place in the 
House of Representatives. In the Senate it had be- 
come the accepted rule to receive such petitions in 
silence unless some member took occasion to offer 
remarks upon the subject and bring on one of those 
altercations which Benton so greatly desired to 
avoid. In the House John Quincy Adams gained 
his title of "the old man eloquent" by his 
championship of the right of these petitioners to 
be heard. We shall obtain an entirely erroneous 
idea if we suppose that by the constitutional right 
of petition was meant simply the right to send 
documents to Congress. What was intended was 
the reference of such petitions to a committee 
which would make a report on the subject. The 
so-called " gag-law" was simply a resolution phys- 
ically to present these petitions to Congress when 
no further attention would be paid to them. Over 
this subject the contest raged and though the slave- 
holders won, Adams kept up the struggle against 
the system until it was later sensibly modified. 

Benton sat silent through these debates. He 
maintained that discussion was the worst possible 
means of suppressing the evils complained of and 
thought the fears of Calhoun were all ghosts. He 
saw that no sooner was one position taken to meet 



SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 221 

the objections of the Southerners than they shifted 
their ground and made new demands. Calhoun 
who had supported the Missouri C!om promise, 
again assailed it as an evil measure which was 
certain, if persisted in, to ruin the country. This 
contention of Calhoun's was becoming exceed- 
ingly galling to Benton, who knew that there 
was no danger of Northern interference with the 
slavery system, no matter how many petitions 
of individuals or societies were sent to Congress. 
He foresaw too, if Calhoun continued to assert 
that the slave states would sooner or later secede, 
that the North would arise and take some radical 
action. Benton frequently referred to the words 
of Madison who in the last year of his life, at 
the age of eighty-eight, with unequaled knowledge 
of our history, gained by personal contact, sol- 
emnly stated that while Calhoun and his group 
might really mean no harm by their threats, they 
were undoubtedly educating a set of younger men 
in their beliefs who would go to further lengths 
and would unite the whole South on some critical 
occasion when nullification would be the first step, 
secession and separation the last. 

The Texas question had not been allowed to 
slumber since Monroe, at the North's behest, re- 



222 ' THOMAS H. BENTON 

fused to accept this great territory from .Spain. 
BentOD was enraged over the action and denounced 
Monroe for it until he found that all the members 
of the cabinet had concurred in the decision. He 
still believed that it was a tactical error and one 
that must be corrected sooner or later. His old 
friend, Sam Houston, who had been a corporal in 
his regiment in the War of 1812, had mystified and 
astonished all his friends after his election to the 
governorship of Tennessee in 1826, by suddenly 
disappearing under circumstances which have 
never to this day been satisfactorily explained.' 
Going to Texas which was then a Mecca for 
Americans, especially if they had got into difficulty 
at home, he soon engaged himself with the revolu- 
tionists who waged perpetual war against Mexico, 
a republic in name and a despotism in operation. 
At the battle of San Jacinto, Houston won a com- 
plete victory over General Santa Anna and Texas 
thereafter asserted her independence. In this terri- 
tory could be seen several potential slave states. 
Under existing conditions there was only one more 
slave state in view, Florida, but she made such slow 
progress in population and was the scene of an 

'See " Recollections of Fifty Years," by A. K. McClure, for 
one accouut of this disappearance. 



SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 223 

Indian war so long aud bloody, that her admission 
was likely to suffer long postponement. 

In 1836 a proposal was made for the annexation 
of Texas but that state was still engaged in fighting 
Mexico aud had not asked the privilege. In 1838 
the Texans made formal application for statehood 
although the war continued in a desultory way. 
As the administration was not ready for war with 
Mexico, the subject was given very little considera- 
tion and was laid on the table in the Senate by a 
decisive vote. Benton, in spite of his belief that 
we should have held Texas, was not willing to fight 
for it now, especially as such action would reopen 
the slavery question. His constant hope of quell- 
ing this agitation is creditable to his heart but not 
to his head, since if there were one thing that could 
not be suppressed it was this very subject which 
propagandists on both sides were discussing in- 
cessantly. 

In Tyler's administration the question came for- 
ward once more, and in a more ominous way. The \ 
President was scheming for re-election and his chief 
issue was Texas. He had played the Whigs false 
aud the Democrats were willing to use him as a- 
tool but he still believed that he was to be his owu 
successor. Texan annexation he thought would 



224 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

secure him a "solid South" while Northern 
Democrats would come to his supi)ort, assuring 
him the victory. 

The first movement in this direction was the 
publication of a broadside in a newspaper, stating 
that Great Britain was about to annex Texas and 
seize Oregon, when she would have this nation en- 
compassed on all sides. The article was adroit, 
seemingly based on genuine information, cunningly 
calculated to alarm the American peojjle and 
carefully concealing the underlying slavery ques- 
tion. Benton had no faith in such news. He be- 
lieved that Calhoun was the author of the article 
or at least had inspired it. At this time Calhoun, 
made Secretary of State through the Princeton dis- 
aster, was a candidate for the presidential nomina- 
tion. His whole soul was in the Texas annexation 
scheme but he perceived that it was surrounded 
with many difficulties. A more ingenious ruse was 
never invented in politics than that which was pre- 
pared and carried out to secure Texas. From the 
first Benton was considered an important factor in 
the affair but as he was a foe of Calhoun it was 
necessary to approach him diplomatically. This 
was done through the medium of Senator Brown, 
of Tennessee, an old companion, who came to Ben- 



SLAYEEY AGITATION AND TEXAS 225 

ton with many warm expressions of friendship and 
congratulated him on the fact that at last Texas 
was to be joined to the Union. Benton was no man 
to be captured with soft words. To Brown's suav- 
ity he replied : 

"Texan annexation as now planned is on the 
part of some an intrigue for the presidency and a 
plot to dissolve the Union ; on the part of others 
a Texas scrip and land speculation, and I am 
against it." 

This was a severe blow to the Southern men and 
it was seen that haste must be made to commit 
Jackson to annexation. By means of clever 
diplomacy, by playing on the old man's patriotism 
and his vanity, the ruse succeeded and Jackson de- 
clared strongly for the treaty of annexation, much 
to the disgust of Benton and many of "Old 
Hickory's" stoutest friends. Jackson perceived, 
when it was too lat«, that he had unwittingly 
aimed a blow at the renomination of Van Buren 
and sought in vain to counteract the effect of his 
action. 

Then came a most surprising development. Al- 
though the letter alleging that Great Britain was 
about to annex Texas had no official standing 
whatever, the English government was induced 



226 THOMAS H. BENTON 

to take note of it and Lord Aberdeen, British 
Foreign Secretary, wrote a despatch in which an 
emphatic denial was given to the rumor. This was 
proper enough but his lordship made a most ex- 
traordinary blunder by announcing in the course 
of his despatch, that ''Great Britain desires, and 
is constantly exerting herself to procure, the gen- 
eral abolition of slavery throughout the world." 

It was true that his government had nothing 
whatever to do with American slavery and would 
never interfere in our domestic affairs, but the an- 
nouncement set the country aflame. Calhoun and 
his followers were beside themselves with rage. 
The Abolitionists welcomed the statement and it 
was an invitation to continue their propaganda. 
After the signing of the treaty in April, 1844, to 
annex Texas suddenlj^ and by stealth, Secretary 
of State Calhoun, proceeded to reply to Lord 
Aberdeen in a despatch which must have amazed 
that dignified gentleman. It was a stump speech, 
addressed to the American people and contained 
data which was of no interest to Great Britain — in- 
deed it was hardlj'^ comprehensible in England. It 
was an argument for slavery and its extension and 
contained an alleged compilation of statistics show- 
ing how much better morally, spiritually and phys- 



SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 227 

ically were the slaves than the free blacks. The 
document had its uses in forwarding the Texas 
matter, but the trick was discovered and exposed 
by Benton who proceeded, as he said, to ''pull the 
devil from under the blanket," meaning Calhoun. 

Benton's position was now very peculiar. He 
was opposed to the annexation of Texas by the 
treaty which had been secretly and underhandedly 
negotiated only to fail by a decisive vote in the 
Senate. He felt that no such important treaty 
should be carried through without legislative 
action and some consideration for Mexico. In 
these days it is easy for us to say that Mexico was 
still sovereign over the disputed territory and that 
the Texan affair was a conspiracy from beginning 
to end. If there had been a good government in 
Mexico, if there had been a proper administrative 
supervision of Texas from the Mexican capital, 
there might be something in this contention. But 
this was not the case. 

The discussion proceeded after the election of 
Polk. Although disappointed because of Van 
Buren's defeat in 1844, Benton had felt called 
upon to support the party candidate in this cam- 
paign. Polk was an open and avowed annexa- 
tionist but with some reserve since he desired to 
t 



228 THOMAS H. BENTON 

respect the rights of all who were involved in the 
contest. 

At the session of 1844-45, the Senate objected to the 
first annexation proposal which was fathered by the 
House and which was that Texas should come into 
the Union simply by a resolution of Congress to that 
effect. This was an unprecedented course. The 
Senate contained some members opposed to an- 
nexation on any terms and very few were favor- 
able to this new suggestion since it seemed certain 
to result in war. There was no guarantee that 
Mexico would be satisfied with the boundary lines 
as they were fixed by Congress though this dispute 
was supposed to be provided for in the bill. It was 
alleged by senators of all parties that a matter of 
this sort required not only legislative action but 
diplomatic negotiation so that there should be an 
understanding among the three nations involved. 
Benton took the lead and introduced a resolution 
to the effect that annexation should be arranged for 
wholly by negotiation. The Senate favored this 
idea but the end of the session was now at hand 
and unless something were done speedily the matter 
must go over to the next Congress which was what 
the cooler heads preferred. 

Senator Walker, of Mississippi, soon to enter 



SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 229 

upon a more distinguished career, now came for- 
ward with a proposal that the propositions of the 
House and the Senate be joined so that the 
President could take his choice. This was an 
extraordinary compromise, one that never could 
have been agreed to except that President-elect 
Polk was in town in conference with the leaders 
of the party and anxious to have something 
done. He announced that if the bill were passed 
in its dual form he would take the Senate's advice 
and send out a commission composed of able men, 
rei)resenting all shades of opinion on the subject. 
Benton agreed to this and after canvassing the Sen- 
ate and House it was found that the measure could 
pass. It is true, the suggestion was offered that 
Tyler might at the last moment act on the annexa- 
tion question himself. This idea was resented with 
indignation by members on both sides of the cham- 
ber who considered such a suggestion an imputation 
not only upon the President but upon the high 
office which he filled. When all possible guaran- 
tees seemed to be given, the Senate passed the bill 
with much reluctance and by a majority of only 
two votes. The House concurred and on Saturday, 
March 1, the measure went to the President and 
the senators were considering who should execute 



230 THOMAS H. BENTON 

the delicat^ commission. On Monday, when Con- 
gress met for its last legislative day, great was the 
surprise and anger of many members to learn that 
the '' impossible infamy" had taken place, that 
Tyler had sent a commissioner to negotiate for the 
annexation of Texas according to the House plan 
and that Polk would be relieved of all responsibil- 
ity in the matter. 

The rage of the Senate knew no bounds and Ben- 
ton was almost beside himself. He had been the 
unconscious instrument by which the country had 
taken over a war. Had he supposed for a moment 
that Tyler would act with such precipitancy and 
against the manifest wish of Congress, the bill 
would never have reached the President. The 
fraud, as Benton said, was "prolific of evil and 
pregnant with bloody fruit." 



CHAPTEE XI 

THE WAR WITH MEXICO 

Benton, as we have seen, made no concealment 
of his belief that the war with Mexico was conceived 
in sin and born in iniquity, but like so many others 
of a similar opinion he found no recourse but to 
support the government after the contest had been 
begun. He always accused Calhoun of being the 
author of the war though that statesman was 
actually opposed to it, little supposing that his 
piece of trickery (for Calhoun is alleged to have 
led Tyler into it), would produce a clash of arms. 
South Carolina's great leader thought the Mexican 
government would dispose of its interest in Texas 
for a. lump sum. 

In Benton's view the war was the result of a con- 
spiracy : 

'' On Sunday the second day of March — that day 
which preceded the last day of his [Tyler's] author- 
ity — and on that day, sacred to peace — the council 
sat that acted on the resolutions, and in the dark- 
ness of the night, howling with the storm and bat- 



232 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

tling with the elements as if Heaven warred upon 
the audacious act (for well do I remember it), the 
fatal messenger was sent off which carried the se- 
lected resolution to Texas." 

This passage refers to Tyler's precipitate action 
in securing Texas when it was intended that Polk 
should negotiate for it on the basis of the Senate's 
bill. The messenger accomplished his mission but 
there was another task which was esteemed of 
more importance. Negotiations had been opened 
with General Santa Anna, the one-legged ex- 
dictator of Mexico, who had been in and out 
of power many times, and was now in exile. 
The plan was that as soon as the war should 
open, Santa Anna would be allowed to pass through 
the American lines and enter the City of Mexico 
where he was to counsel peace, Mexico receiving 
her douceur in a large sum of money. The first 
part of the program was carried out. Santa Anna 
reached Mexico by our own connivance but instead 
of being our friend, turned against us, raised the 
standard of Mexico, called the populace to his sup- 
port, and conducted the war to the end with con- 
siderable ability in spite of his constant defeats. 

Congress did not vote the two millions asked of it 
to buy off Mexico, and in the next Congress Polk 



THE WAK WITH MEXICO 233 

called for three millions to be emj)loyed secretly. 
There was opposition to such underhand use of 
money and any possibility of voting it was removed 
when David Wilmot, a member of the House from 
a northeast Pennsylvania district, offered the pro- 
viso bearing his name, which became the rallying 
point in politics for many years, and embodied the 
idea upon which the Eepublican party was essen- 
tially founded. This Proviso was to the effect that 
slavery should not be permitted in any territory 
secured as a result of the appropriation. It started 
the flames of slavery agitation once more, much to 
the disgust of Benton. He saw that this was what 
Calhoun desired, since it gave him an issue on 
which to continue his nullification propaganda. 

Benton, as usual, saw no occasion for forcing the 
contest. He said there was no reason for the Proviso 
as there was no slavery in the territory in question 
and it would be time enough to settle the matter 
when it came up in concrete form. He did not suc- 
ceed in suppressing the Wilmot idea, as it remained 
the most potent suggestion in regard to slavery re- 
striction which had yet been offered. It also had 
for its effect the birth of the Southern doctrine that 
Congress had no right to legislate respecting slav- 
ery in the territories. This was a proposition so 



/ 



A 



234 THOMAS H. BENTON 

contrary to fact and to the former beliefs of Cal- 
houn, that it was long ere Benton could be con- 
vinced that a stand was to be made on this theory. 
He had now some ten years more of public life and 
to the last he fought this proposition which was not 
only false in principle but was, as he said, '* a 
damnable heresy." 

This issue marked a crisis in his political life. 
Hitherto he had fought with much success against 
the agitation of the slavery question and had been 
able to impress Northern and Southern statesmen 

I with his view that there was nothing to agitate. 
He still maintained this position in public but 

! it is easy to see that he was not well convinced 
of the truth of his theory. As he saw the dis- 
ciples of Calhoun increase in numbers his heart 
began to fail him. He would not support the 

\ Wilmot Proviso but he gave no countenance to the 
\|iullifiers. 

We must be just to Benton. He may have failed 
to discern the signs of coming storm, to realize that 
the battle must be fought between those who were 
on the side of the Proviso and those who thought 
with Calhoun that Congress could not legislate at 
all on slavery. He may have lacked that percep- 
tive quality which he usually possessed in looking 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO 235 

at public questions. Or he may have seen the 
danger clearly enough, hoping that his policy of 
repression would finally win. As a matter of fact, 
we know that the outcome was not what he had ex- 
pected and that the contest between the two elements 
in the country continued to grow fiercer, with a 
single temporary interruption, until the Civil War. 

Perhaps it was too much to expect that a man of 
more than sixty who had so long fought for the 
integrity of the Union would change his views 
easily. It can be asserted without fear of contra- 
diction that there never was a moment when he did 
not strive to do his whole duty as he saw it, and 
that as he became older his determination grew 
stronger to smite the monster of nullification. 

When Congress met again Benton was once more 
called into conference with the President, who ad- 
mired him and respected him though the two 
men had no political affiliations. Polk had deter- 
mined on a campaign of "masterly inactivity." 
By this time Taylor had fought the battles of Palo 
Alto and Resaca de la Palma, had crossed over to 
Matamoras and had taken Monterey. The news of 
the first bloodshed had inflamed the country and 
Congress at its late session had provided for an 
increase of the army and some volunteers. Polk 



236 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

had sent to Congress the lying message in which 
he declared that the war had been inaugui-ated by 
Mexico tlirough the shedding of American blood 
on American soil. Though knowing that it was 
false, Congress voted him men and money and Ben- 
ton had spent a vacation at home heartsick over 
the situation. He was convinced, however, that if 
there was to be a war it had better be a short and 
aggressive one. He was not of those who relied 
upon the promises of the administration that there 
would be no war, or that, after hostilities had 
begun it would last from sixty to ninety days, or 
foui* months at the most. Benton was perhaps the 
ripest Spanish scholar in the country. He was bet- 
ter versed in the history of the Spanish -American 
states than any man in public life and had no illu- 
sions on the subject. He knew that the military 
spirit was aroused in Mexico and in spite of the 
fact that there was so large a proportion of our 
people who believed the war unjust, it was certain 
there would be no lack of men on our side to up- 
hold the banners of the nation. 

He was therefore much chagrined when Polk 
showed him his annual message and asked his views 
concerning that portion which dealt with the war. 
It exasperated Benton to find that the idea of the 




\ 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO 

President, supported unanimously by his ca 

was to do nothing, wasting time in negoti 

the real expectation being that Mexico co 

*' bought off." Benton, as requested, replied li a \ 

letter in which he made strong objections to the pro 

posed plan of ''masterly inactivity." His poli^, \ 

as outlined therein, was to attack Vera Cruz, captSe 

it and send an army on the road to Mexico Citj, 

following the route taken by Cortez centuries befor 

To do this there must be another call for volunteer 

as it was neither practicable nor popular to rai 

regulars hastily for the purpose. 

Polk was much impressed by this proposal an^ 
invited Benton to a cabinet meeting where the 
whole plan was considered carefully and rejected. 
The Secretary of War had been telling the gover- 
nors of the States that no more volunteers were 
needed and he did not wish to change his policy. 
Benton finally had his own way, much to the annoy 
ance of the cabinet, and the plan to prosecute the 
war actively was adopted. This was exactly what 
General Scott wished. He himself desired to go 
forward and fight his way to the Mexican capital. 
He was at the head of the army and it was natural 
and right that he should have the place, but Taylor 
had achieved so much success that he could not 



238M THOMAS H. BENTON 

welj be superseded. This was the situation in a 
military way, while political considerations were 
of miuch more importance. Taylor was a Whig 
and already there had been talk of making him a 
candidate for the presidencj'. Scott also heard the 

Mzzing of the Presidential bee and the admiuis- 
ition was perfectly well aware that the war would 
I yield a candidate who would in all probability suc- 
} ceed at the polls. It was maddening to think that 
1^1 "Whig might profit by the Mexican victories and 
^■*olk was anxious to have a Democrat take the 
■leadership if possible. As there was no Democrat 
p in the army of the necessary qualifications the 
\ thought arose in the President's mind that Benton 
i would be the man for the place.' He had been a 
colonel of volunteers in the War of 1812 and a 
lieutenant- colonel in the regular army when he had 
actual rank ahead of either Taylor or Scott. It 
does not seem to have been Polk's idea that Benton 
should command upon the battle-field, but he was to 
go to the front as lieutenant-general and exercise 
an oversight over the two contending armies, and 
particularly to make the treaty of peace when the 
fighting had come to an end. Benton rather ex- 

* In some accounts it is stated that Benton waa the first to 
make the suggestion. 



THE WAK WITH MEXICO 239 

pected to stay in Washington and deal with grand 
strategy only. 

It is really singular to think that he should ever 
have entertained such a proposal. It is true that 
he was commonly called "Colonel" Benton and 
was proud of the very little experience he had in 
war, though none of it was gained in actual combat. 
But that he was not trained in the art of war every 
one knows and that he would have developed com- 
petency seems most improbable. It was here that 
the vanity of the man appeared. He loved the 
pomp and circumstance of war and was desirous of 
popular applause of all kinds. He would have 
loved to come home as the conqueror, ready to take 
the presidency. And it is certain that this plan 
would have been carried out had not some of his 
own party opposed the project, among them Bu- 
chanan, who in the elevation of Benton saw death 
to his own ambitions. Others who ought now 
really to have aided Benton, or refrained from op- 
posing him, succeeded in killing the measure, so 
that he never wore the three stars he coveted and 
we can rejoice that he did not, since his true fame 
could not have been enhanced by waging a war to 
which he was sincerely opposed in principle. 
Later he was nominated and confirmed a major- 



240 THOMAS H. BENTON 

general but, after some curious backing and filling 
on the subject, declined the service. 

Taylor was left on the Rio Grande, Scott fought 
his way to Mexico City and the war ended with the 
rape of Mexican territory as far West as the Pacific 
coast for which we paid an enormous sum to salve 
the national conscience. 

The war had many peculiar phases. One inci- 
dent in which Benton was peculiarly interested was 
the behavior of his son-in-law Fremont. On his 
third exploring expedition he dismissed topography 
from his mind and started off on his own account 
to capture California for the nation before he 
knew that a war with Mexico was in progress. 
Ostensibly he began operations in behalf of the 
local "patriots" who were all Americans, con- 
ducting a kind of revolution like the Texans, but 
he knew that the war was sure to come and saw 
that a British squadron was ready to seize the 
country. Therefore he took the initiative and won, 
gaining a good deal of rather cheap glory, as it 
proved in the end, while he might have been 
hanged had things turned out differently. As it 
was, when Fremont reached home he was court- 
martialed. Though Polk did not sustain the sen- 
tence of dismissal the young man resigned from the 



THE WAE WITH MEXICO 241 

army, later to enjoy a brief and spectacular career 
in politics and in the Civil War, after which he was 
forgotten for a generation. 

Eegardless of the morals of the contest it must be 
said that it rounded out our boundaries to their 
natural limits, the more so because railway trans- 
portation was fast developing and California was 
by no means so remote as twenty-five years before, 
when Benton supposed that the Eocky Mountains 
were our natural barrier. 

It is noteworthy that although the country was 
divided on the issue of waging the war there was 
little objection to taking the unholy spoil. Whigs 
united with Democrats in voting all the money that 
was needed and though the Wilmot Proviso in one 
shape or another came up forty times in Congress 
it never passed both houses and the only result was 
a party shibboleth for the rising generation. It 
was all very well for Benton to say there was no 
danger, but there was danger. K'othing could now 
prevent a culmination of the issue. Calhoun was 
more convinced than ever that Congress had no 
right to legislate concerning slavery in the terri- 
tories ; that it was a national institution, carried by 
force of the Constitution wherever that instrument 
held sway ; that any attempt to interfere with it 



242 THOMAS H. BENTON 

was certain cause for a disruption of the Union. 
And by this time he had gathered around him a 
number of young men who not only held his doc- 
trines, but were willing to see them carried to their 
legitimate conclusion. 

It had now become plain that Tajlor would be 
the candidate of the Whig iJarty in 1848 and that 
his chances of election were good. To prevent this 
result the administration resorted to all kinds of 
expedients. It recalled Trist who made the treaty. 
It recalled Scott from the field by a subterfuge. 
Polk and his advisers had done well from a prac- 
tical point of view. They had re-established the 
independent treasury system ; enacted a new low 
tariff law which was bringing in a good deal of 
revenue ; floated loans at an advantageous rate and 
had been successful in the field in every encounter. 
Yet the administration could not command the 
support of the people, as they were determined to 
have "Old Zach," who had done so much of the 
fighting and whose victory at Buena Vista was one 
of the most notable in our annals. 

Clay was disgusted at this manifestation of love 
for a military candidate, for once more the fires of 
ambition were burning in him. He was thrust 
aside for a man without civil experience. The 



THE WAE WITH MEXICO 243 

convention did not even adopt a platform. Taylor 
beat Clay, Scott, and Webster, and all the defeated 
men were so much disgruntled that they never re- 
covered from the experience. Clay and Webster 
gave their adhesion only at the last moment, after 
the strongest expressions of disapproval of Taylor's 
candidacy. 

The Democrats were doomed to defeat from the 
very beginning. At the regular convention there 
was a contest over seating the delegates from 
New York state. A bolt followed and led to the 
famous Free Soil Convention which nominated 
Van Buren. Cass was nominated by the regular 
Democracy. He maintained a neutral position 
on the slavery question after the convention had 
voted down some radical proposals from the 
South. Benton greatly deplored this split in the 
party and did not ally himself with the Van 
Buren men, though most of his personal friends 
were in that faction and it is probable that he ad- 
hered more closely to .their view than to the other^ 
Indeed, from this time forth Benton was a manl 
without a party and his retirement from public life ^ 
was caused by his refusal to take sides at a time 
when such action was imperative. 

It is evident from the temper of his letters and 



244 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

(speeches that he was beginning to lose hope of con- 
verting the Calhoun party, and the rest of his life 
was devoted to preserving that Union he loved so 
much and had served so long and well. 

There is pathos in his complaint that the Demo- 
cratic party by adopting the two-thirds rule usurped 
popular powers, but as a matter of fact he objected 
to conventions as they were conducted, just as he 
continued to the last to inveigh against the method 
of electing the president and vice-president. He 
labored for a change in the system with a devotion 
and energy that were worthy of greater success. In 
fact, Benton had only one more great r61e to enact 
and his work in the Senate was done. 



CHAPTEE XII 

THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 

Benton's last stand was made in the first session 
of Congress which met under Taylor and never did 
he appear to such splendid advantage. The clouds 
of disunion were lowering and many felt the time 
had come when an accommodation could no longer 
be made between the two sections of the country. 
The immediate cause of dissatisfaction was the fact 
that California, which had rapidly increased in 
population under the stimulus of the gold dis- 
coveries, had held a convention and applied for 
admission as a state. In the convention there was 
only one vote for slavery. The result was dis- 
heartening to Calhoun and his school because they 
saw in our newly acquired territory ample room 
for enough states, with Texas dismembered, to 
keep up that equilibrium of free and slave com- 
monwealths, declared by them to be absolutely 
essential to the preservation of the Union, which 
they were determined to destroy if such a relation 
were not maintained indefinitely. 

The Whigs who had been so joyous over the 



246 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

election of Taylor soon found there were many 
flies in the ointment and when Congress met in 
December, 1849, distrust and fear ruled. In the 
rearrangement of personal views over the question 
of slavery extension old political lines had been 
sadly broken. In the House only ninety-five 
members had been re-elected and the division on 
party lines was so close that a small number of 
independents held the balance of power in choos- 
ing a speaker. Winthrop was set aside and after a 
long contest which greatly delayed the business of 
the session Cobb, of Georgia, was elected by a 
plurality when it was found impossible to obtain a 
majority for any candidate. 

By general agreement of all historians, the 
Senate which met that year was the most distin- 
guished legislative body that ever sat in America. 
To read the names is to us what it was to the 
Greeks to call the roll of their commanders who 
went forth to capture Troy. ' 
Benton was the oldest of all in point of service 

^but he was soon to disappear. Though there was 
a bitter three-cornered contest over the senatorship 
in Missouri, he remained at "Washington and at- 

[ tended to his duties like a Roman. Every word he 
* Blaine's "Tweuty Years in Congress," 



THE COMPEOMISES OF 1850 247 

uttered was scrutiuized and he never faltered for | 
an instant in tlie devotion to those principles which y 
he had championed for thirty years. * 

Here sat for the last time the members of the 
great triumvirate, men whose like has never been 
known in our history before or since ; men whose 
transcendent abilities had in every case been pros- 
tituted to ambition. Of this combination it was 
said that they were "always in rivalry, invincible 
in union, and terrible in opposition." Clay had 
come back at the earnest behest of Kentucky to 
make one more effort to save the Union. He was 
old and feeble ; the cough which finally resulted in 
his death annoyed him greatly and he had to be 
helped up and down the marble steps. Webster 
sat in his seat very seldom. He was engaged in 
arguments before the Supreme Court and was 
nursing a grievance. He had denounced the 
nomination of Taylor as one not fit to be made. 
Long coveting the honor for himself, to see a 
backwoods colonel suddenly elevated to the 
chief magistracy was more than his proud spirit 
could bear. He gave no sign of his purposes for 
some time. Calhoun was on the verge of the 
grave but as defiant as ever. The edifice of seces- 
sion which was being reared so that all could be- 



\ \ 



s\ 



248 THOMAS H. BENTON 

hold it, was his own work and though he was not 
to see it completed he had able lieutenants who 
were to carry nullification into secession and civil 
war. 

These were the four great men of the Senate and 
in many respects Benton towered above them all. 

/in moral courage and self-sacrifice he was easily 
superior ; in patriotism the equal of any. No 
siren voice could charm him from devotion to the 
Union and the laws. He was willing to meet de- 
feat rather than deviate, compromise or equivo- 
\ cate ; while the other three were willing to do 
\almost anything to avoid the crisis which im- 
pended. 

Of the younger men there was Seward, who was 
to speak the sentiments of a coming age and an- 
nounce his '^ higher law," so shocking to Benton 
and the older men. There was JeJBferson Davis, 
son-in-law of the President and his strongest polit- 
ical foe, the man who was to preside over the Ck)u- 
federacy through its brief and stormy existence. 
Douglas was a Northern trimmer to be overthrown 
at last by Lincoln. Corwin and Chase sat for Ohio, 
two of the ablest men that state ever produced and 
both ambitious. Sam Houston, the Union -loving 
liberator of Texas, was the handsomest man in the 



THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 249 

body and by some esteemed the finest-looking man 
in America. From Michigan came Cass, ''Old 
Dough Face," so often a candidate for the presi- 
dential nomination. Bell, of Tennessee ; Hale, of 
New Hampshire ; and Hannibal Hamlin, were soon 
to be better known in politics as contestants for 
high honors, Virginia sent Mason and Hunter, 
later to be distinguished officers under the Con- 
federacy. King, of Alabama, soon to be elected 
Vice-president ; Soule, of Louisiana, who tried to 
pick a quarrel with Spain ; Berrien, of Georgia ; 
Butler, of South Carolina, whom Sumner attacked ; 
Davis, of Massachusetts ; the Dodges, father and 
son, who sat for Wisconsin and Iowa ; and the 
redoubtable James Shields, who started to fight a 
duel with Lincoln — these are but a few of those 
who held high inquest over the state of the Union 
and made the Compromises. 

The membership of the House was less distin- 
guished but it contained many men of first-rate 
abilities who were later to become known to fame. 

The Senate had plenty of time to think over mat- 
ters while the House spent weeks in electing a 
speaker. When the President's message was finally 
received it was found to be a patriotic document. 
Taylor desired peace but he was determined to 



250 THOMAS H. BEJ^TON 

have it by fighting if necessary and made this bold 
announcement. He recommended the admission of 
California as a free state, independent of any other 
considerations. This was the chief issue of the 
hour and on it Benton's mind was long made up. 
In a sense he was the father of California. He had 
spoken for the Pacific coast when some of his col- 
leagues were mere boys. He had aided his son-in- 
law, Fremont, to make his buccaneering expedi- 
tion to the Southwest, and as he had stood by the 
young man when he was disgraced, it was no small 
joy to see him returning as one of the new 
senators-elect. If the California case had been 
opposed to Benton's ideas of legality Fremont 
would have met a Koman antagonist in the aged 
senator, but fortunately they were at this time in 
political accord. 

Why should California not be admitted, asked 
Benton? She had the requisite population and 
was rapidly growing, while the wealth in her mines 
was fabulous. Slavery was not wanted by the 
people, and the system could not have been made 
available to any great extent even if desired. Why 
not admit her ? 

The answer of Calhoun and his associates was 
that it was robbery of the South to make Call- 



THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 251 

fornia a free state even if she desired to be free. 
Callioim had personally forced the Mexican War 
for the express pui-pose of slavery extension and 
did not propose to be deprived of the fruit. More- 
over there were other things to be considered. How 
about the territories of Utah and New Mexico (then 
including Ai'izoua) ? How about the claim of Texas 
to a vast amount of territory which the administra- 
tion had not allowed ? How about a fugitive slave 
law, now that the one in existence had been ren- 
dered practically nugatory in places where the 
local opposition to slavery was strong ? Xo, said 
Calhoun, we will not settle California's status with- 
out considering these other things. 

It was useless for Benton to talk to Calhoun and 
he found the new school of Whigs, soon to become 
the founders of the Republican party, not much 
more tractable. They wished the slave trade sup- 
pressed in the District of Columbia. They had no 
desire for a stringent fugitive slave law and were 
opposed to any extension of slavery in the terri- 
tories where the evil had not existed previously, 
making their stand upon the Wilmot Proviso. 
Nevertheless there were many who were perturbed 
over the situation and eager for some way out of 
danger. It was to Clay that all looked for a plan 



252 THOMAS H. BENTOX 

of harmony. His long experience as a eoniiiro- 
miser was such that if he could not solve the great 
problem, all were willing to believe it impossible 
to do so. 

Late in January, 1850, Clay brought forward his 
plan, after he had consulted with Calhoun and 
Webster who had yielded assent. There were 
"five bleeding wounds" in the Eepublic and he 
proposed to dress and heal them in this fashion : 

First. California to be admitted with her free 
constitution. 

Second. Territorial governments to be erected 
in Utah and New Mexico, leaving the matter of 
slavery to be settled at the time of admission as 
States. 

Third. Texas' impossible claims to be bought 
off with millions of money. 

Fourth. A more stringent fugitive slave law 
under federal supervision to be enacted ; slavery 
not to be abolished in the District of Columbia 
without the consent of Maryland and Virginia. 

Fifth. The slave trade to be practically abolished 
in the District of Columbia. 

Upon these propositions Clay made a two days' 
speech which was perhaps his greatest effort, though 
a dozen orations have been given that distinc- 



THE COMPEOMISES OF 1850 253 

tion. The Senate was crowded to hear him. The 
old man shook off his weight of years and spoke for 
hours with all the energy and abandon of youth, all 
the silvery tones of his manhood's prime, and all 
that depth of devotion to the Union which was the 
guiding star of his life. Almost half a century be- 
fore he had entered the Senate, the youngest man 
who ever sat in that body. Xow in his age he was 
beseeching the people once more to compose their 
differences and live in peace. His eyes gleamed 
with unnatural fire, his lips seemed touched as with 
coals from the altar. Men wept as he begged and 
pleaded with them, and when he concluded women 
rushed in and smothered him with caresses and 
kisses. This was. one of the most effective speeches 
ever made in the chamber. It brought over to his 
side many who wavered and who in the end made 
up a majority. It seemed as if the physician had 
at last been found to heal the wounds and men's 
hearts were beating lighter, even if there were mis- 
givings over the value of the plan. 

Benton was not in the least deceived. He saw 
there was an element that desired secession and 
would be satisfied with nothing short of this unless 
given complete control of the government in per- 
petuity. He believed the Compromises would not 



254 THOMAS H. BENTON 

satisfy any party in interest and was convinced that 
they would no sooner be put in operation than fric- 
tion would result. In his first speech in reply to 
Clay he indulged in plain speaking and no little 
sarcasm. What he predicted came to pass and 
some of his words deserve to be remembered : 

"It is a bill of thirty-nine sections — forty, save 
one — an ominous number ; and which, with the two 
little bills which attend it, is called a compromise, 
and is pressed ujion us as a remedy for the national 
calamities. Now, all this labor of the committee, 
and all this remedy, proceed upon the assumption 
that the people of the United States are in a miser- 
able, distracted condition ; that it is their mission 
to relieve this national distress, and that these bills 
are the sovereign remedy for that purpose. Now, 
in my opinion, all this is a mistake, both as to the 
condition of the country, the mission of the com- 
mittee, and the efficacy of their remedy. I do not 
believe in this misery, and distraction, and distress, 
and strife, of the people. On the contrary, I be- 
lieve them to be very quiet at home, attending to 
their crops, such of them as do not mean to feed 
out of the public crib ; and that they would be 
perfectly happy if the politicians would only per- 
mit them to think so. I know of no distress in the 



THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 255 

country, no misery, no strife, no distraction, none 
of those five gaping wounds of which the senator 
from Kentucky made enumeration on the five 
fingers of his left hand, and for the healing of 
which, all together, and all at once, and not one at 
a time, like the little Doctor Taylor, he has pro- 
vided this capacious plaster in the shape of five old 
bills tacked together. I believe the senatoi: and 
myself are alike, in this, that each of us has but 
five fingers on the left hand ; and that may account 
for the limitation of the wounds. When the fingers 
gave out, they gave out ; and if there had been five 
more fingers, there might have been more wounds 
— as many as fingers — and, toes also. I know 
nothing of all these 'gaping wounds,' nor of any 
distress in the country since we got rid of the Bank 
of the United States, and since we got possession 
of the gold currency. Since that time I have heard 
of no pecuniary or business distress, no rotten cur- 
rency, no expansions and contractions, no deranged 
exchanges, no decline of public stocks, no laborers 
begging employment, no produce rotting upon the 
hands of the farmer, no property sacrificed at 
forced sales, no loss of confidence, no three per 
centum a month interest, no call for a bankrupt 
act. Never were the people — the business doing 



256 THOMAS H. BENTON 

and the working people — as well off as they are to- 
day. As for political distress, '■it is all in my eye.^ 
It is all among the politicians. Never were the 
political blessings of the country greater than at 
present : civil and religious liberty eminently en- 
joyed ; life, liberty, and property protected ; the 
North and the South returning to the old belief 
that they were made for each other ; and peace and 
plenty reigning throughout the land. This is the 
condition of the country — happy in the extreme ; 
and I listen with amazement to the recitals which I 
have heard on this floor of strife and contention, 
gaping wounds and streaming blood, distress and 
misery. My opposition to the extension of slavery 
dates further back than 1844— forty years further 
back ; and as this is a suitable time for a general 
declaration, and a sort of general conscience de- 
livery, I will say that my opposition to it dates 
from 1804, when I was a student at law in the 
state of Tennessee, and studied the subject of 
African slavery in an American book — a Virginia 
book — Tucker's edition of ' Blackstone's Ckjmmen- 
taries.' And here I find the largest objection to 
the extension of slavery — to planting it in new 
regions where it does not now exist — bestowing it 
on those who have it not. The incurability of the 



THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 257 

evil is the greatest objection to the extension of 
slavery. It is wrong for the legislator to inflict an 
evil which can be cured : how much more to inflict 
one that is incurable, and against the will of the 
people who are to endure it forever ! I quarrel 
with no one for supposing slavery a blessing : I 
deem it an evil : and would neither adopt it nor 
impose it on others. Yet I am a slaveholder, and 
among the few members of Congress who hold 
slaves in this District. The French proverb tells 
us that nothing is new but what has been forgotten. 
So of this objection to a large emancipation. 
Every one sees now that it is a question of races, 
involving consequences which go to the destruction 
of one or the other : it was seen fifty years ago, and 
the wisdom of Virginia balked at it then. It seems 
to be above human wisdom. But there is a wisdom 
above human ! and to that we must look. In the 
meantime, do not extend the evil." 

It was a terrible blow to Benton that he could 
find few to agree with him. He complained that 
every one seemed blinded to the truth. When 
it came Calhoun's turn to give his support to 
the Compromises, Benton watched eagerly, for he 
felt that much depended on his exact position. 
Calhoun, now on the brink of the grave, was able 



258 THOMAS H. BENTON 

to appear in the Senate, but obliged to have a 
fellow Senator read the speech he had prepared. 
He sat like a disembodied spirit reviewing the 
deeds of the flesh as he watched the effect of his 
words on his audience. He evidently had little 
faith in the Compromises, but assented to them 
since he was at heart loyal to the Union, or pro- 
fessed to be so, and certainly did not desire war to 
come in his time. It was a dismal wail he poured 
forth, asserting that the South had been maltreated 
and misused and that before long self-preservation 
would demand a complete change of relations be- 
tween the two sections. 

Calhoun said in part : 

"I have. Senators, believed from the first that 
the agitation of the subject of slavery would, if not 
prevented by some timely effective measure, end in 
disunion. The agitation has been permitted to pro- 
ceed, with almost no attempt to resist it, until it 
has reached a period when it can no longer be dis- 
guised or denied that the Union is in danger." 

After diagnosing the danger and attributing all 
trouble to the agitation on the part of the North 
begun in 1835, when the abolition excitement first 
became prominent in New England, resulting in 
riots and Southern protests, he continued : 



THE C0MPR0:MISES of 1850 259 

" It [the UnioD] cannot then be saved by eulogies 
on it, however splendid or numerous. The cry of 
'Union, Union, the glorious Union,' can no more 
prevent disunion than the cry of ^ Health, health, 
glorious health,' on the part of the physician can 
save a patient from dying." And further on, as a 
reply to the President's repetition of Washington's 
farewell address, Calhoun said there was "nothing 
in his [Washington's] history to deter us from 
seceding from the Union should it fail to fulfil the 
objects for which it was instituted." Continuing, 
he said: "Indeed, as events are now moving, it 
will not require the South to secede to dissolve the 
Union." 

Benton was dismayed, for it proved to him what 
he had been asserting all along : that the Compro- 
mises were a hollow sham ; that they did not satisfy 
the South, which felt that it had been giving up too 
much, and certainly would not satisfy the North, 
which thought it was being deprived of its rights. 
Benton went to see Calhoun to find out what was 
the new adjustment at which he had hinted, and 
discovered that it was nothing more or less than a 
scheme for the election of two presidents, one to be 
chosen by the free and the other by the slave states. 
No legislation then should be valid unless it be 



260 THOMAS H. BENTON 

signed by both of them. Beuton felt that the old 
man must be iu his dotage to make such au extra- 
ordinary proposal which never could have been 
adopted, and if it had been, would have broken 
down at the first trial. In a few days Calhoun was 
dead and his plan was never publicly advocated. 

Webster now came forward to pledge his ad- 
herence to the Compromises. He had deliberated 
long before doing so, but considered them essential 
to the perpetuity of the Union, though he was 
obliged to violate some of his strongest principles 
and to belie much of his career. In his famous 7th 
of March speech he reached his political nadir. 
Where now that Olympian voice which spoke for 
the Union more than twenty years before ? Where 
now that confidence in the people and the demand 
for ^'Liberty and Union, now and forever," as 
against the heresies of nullification ? Alas, the 
godlike Webster had changed. He had become 
distrustful, and in his zeal for the Compromises he 
struck a blow at New England which horrified and 
pained the moral element beyond expression, call- 
ing forth from Whittier his famous poem entitled, 
"Ichabod." 

Then other senators rose to speak. Each man 
seemed to feel that the Compromises were not ex- 



THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 261 

actly what they should be and wished for some- 
thing else, but most of the leaders were willing to 
make the trial. 

Several times during the debate Benton came 
into angry collision with Clay over features of the 
bill. Clay charged that Benton had been opposed 
in the previous summer to the admission of Cali- 
fornia, or at least he had heard so. Benton set 
him right on this matter, but not until much bad 
temper had been exhibited on both sides. Clay 
accused Benton of trying to lecture him and denied 
that the Missourian was a fit preceptor or that he 
(Clay) could learn anything from him. The state- 
ment produced a laugh which calmed the pertui'bed 
spirits for a time. Both men were imperious, dog- 
matic and in dead earnest. Clay could not forgive 
Benton his victory in the matter of the bank and 
Benton could not but have been envious of the 
wonderful persuasive powers and the eloquence 
possessed by Clay. 

Later in the debate a more serious encounter 
occurred. Foote, of Mississippi, though Northern 
born, was the greatest fire-eater in the South. He 
was a small, swaggering man, who made a great 
deal of noise in debate and displayed a spirit of bra- 
vado that disgusted nearly every one in the Senate. 



262 THOMAS H. BENTON 

He carried a pistol, and ou one occasion when he 
was having a warm altercation with Benton the 
latter advanced toward him. Foote believed, or 
pretended to believe, that he saw Benton put his 
hand in his pocket, and thereupon drew his loaded 
weapon on the Missourian. This was the greatest 
indignity the Senate had ever known and a tre- 
mendous /urore ensued. Benton demanded that the 
coward shoot, asserting that he was not afraid of 
braggarts. He was greatly excited, perhaps un- 
necessarily so, but the conduct of Foote was 
despicable and Benton was determined not to show 
the white feather. Foote was compelled to apolo- 
gize, but Benton never forgot the insult. 

Curiously enough, once more under a Whig 
administration, Benton was the chief supporter of 
the President. Taylor had set his face against the 
Compromises and urged his friends to stand firm 
on the subject. Benton had no particular love for 
Taylor as an individual, but greatly admired the 
patriotic stand he had taken and in this case he 
was supporting him against the leaders of his own 
party. Benton's political orphanage was now 
complete. All this time California was waiting 
and found little consolation in the fact that all the 
sins of omission and commission on the subject of 



THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 263 

slavery as viewed by North and South were to be 
loaded on her back. Fremont chafed because his 
term was short and in the end he served only a 
few days. In Benton's attempt to save the Union 
by defending the laws, his warmest ally was 
Houston, who went as much contrary to the wishes 
of the Texans, as Benton did to those of the 
Missouriaus. Houston was a man of much the 
same calibre as Benton and they were the warmest 
friends. Even in these days when Houston wrote 
to Benton he always signed himself ' ' your friend 
and subaltern." 

To perfect the bill. Clay had secured a grand 
committee of the Senate of thirteen members, 
representing numerically but not otherwise the 
original thirteen states. They reported the measure 
which was intolerably long and contained all of 
Clay's "plasters." It soon developed that while 
a majority favored compromise, the bill could not 
pass and even if it did, it seemed certain that 
Taylor would veto it. That contingency was re- 
moved by his sudden death, which for a time 
caused the suspension of all business. Fillmore, 
who became President, was agreeable to the Com- 
promises and the debate continued. When the 
voting began the sections one after another were 



264 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

rejected until there was nothing left but a bill 
for the erection of a territorial government in 
Utah. Clay's work seemed a failure and the old 
man retired in disgust to the seashore where he en- 
deavored to compose his mind over the disaster. 

Benton had early observed that the bills could 
pass separately if not joined together, and that was 
the plan finally adopted. California was admitted 
under her constitution by a decisive vote. Ten 
senators immediately offered a protest which they 
wished to have placed on the journal. This paper 
expressed disapprobation of what had been done 
and predicted that the country would soon be dis- 
membered if the Senate persisted in such legisla- 
tion. The chief grievance of the protesters was 
that California had not been divided on the 
Missouri Compromise line and the southern half 
given to the slavery-men. 

Benton immediately attacked not only the matter 
of the protest but the proposal to spread it on the 
records. He now had the Southerners in a corner. 
For years Calhoun had been contending that slavery 
was a national institution concerning which Con- 
gress had no right to legislate ; that it must exist in 
all national territory and when statehood was 
reached the people could choose for themselves, 



THE COMPROMISES OP 1850 265 

whether they would have it or not. He evidently 
forgot that he himself in his earlier years had ad- 
mitted the power of Congress to act in the matter 
and that he had on many occasions in the Senate 
and in the cabinet advocated this view. K he had 
not forgotten it, he ignored his former position and 
had now educated a new school to his later beliefs. 
And here were his disciples complaining that Con- 
gress had not done the very thing they had so 
strenuously asserted it had no power to do. Davis 
had announced early in the debate that slavery 
was supported by the laws of God and man and 
was sanctioned by the Bible ; that he would take 
the Missouri Comi;)romise line to the Pacific and 
not an inch less. He was obliged to take less 
but he signed the protest which was nothing else 
than a threat to break up the Union. 

Benton's speech was in part against the legality^, 
of such a protest and in it he gave the Senate the \ 
benefit of his erudition, quoting copiously from \ 
ancient precedents and citing the uniform practice 
of the British House of Lords. When he came to 
a denunciation of that portion of the paper which 
contained a threat of disunion he rose to heights of 
real eloquence. Benton said in part : 

*'It is afflicting enough to witness such things 



266 THOMAS H. BENTON 

out of doors ; but to enter a solemn protest on our 
journals, looking to the contingent dissolution of 
the Union, and that for our own acts — for the acts 
of a majority — to call upon us of the majority to re- 
ceive our own indictment, and enter it, without 
answer, upon our own journals — is certainly going 
beyond all the other signs of the times, and taking 
a most alarming step in the progress which seems 
to be making in leading to a dreadful catastrophe. 
'■ I>issohition'' to be entered on our journal ! What 
would our ancestors have thought of it? The 
paper contains an enumeration of what it char- 
acterizes as unconstitutional, unjust, and oppress- 
ive conduct on the part of Congress against the 
South, which, if persisted in, must lead to a dis- 
solution of the Union, and names the admission of 
California as one of the worst of these measures. 
I cannot consent to place that paper on our jour- 
nals. I protest against it — protest in the name of 
my constituents. I have made a stand against it. 
It took me by surprise ; but my spirit rose and 
fought. I deem it my sacred duty to resist it — to 
resist the entrance upon our journal of a paper 
hypothetically justifying disunion. If defeated, 
and the paper goes on the journal, I still wish the 
present age and posterity to see that it wae not 



THE COMPEOMISES OF 1850 267 

without a struggle — not without a stand against the 
portentous measui'c — a stand which should mark 
one of those eras in the history of nations from 
which calamitous events flow." 

The protest was not received. It must have been 
a malicious joy to Benton that Atchison, his col- 
league in the Senate, who opposed him in all mat- 
ters concerning the extension of slavery, had signed 
the pai^er and was not allowed to see it go on record. 

The next bill in the group to receive serious con- 
sideration was the fugitive slave act. Benton's 
plan was to make a few amendments to the existing 
law in order to give jurisdiction to the federal au- 
thorities ; but the radicals insisted on a new law 
and in the end it satisfied no one, as in fact such a 
measure could not under the conditions which then 
existed and which were presently to become so 
much worse. Benton made an effort to have the 
bill perfected but it failed to suit him and he did 
not vote for or against it, in which position he was 
joined by twenty other senators. 

The rest of the compromise bills passed without 
much trouble and were signed by the Whig presi- 
dent who thereby made hisrenomination impossible. 

This practically ended Benton's career in the 
Senate. During the next short session which closed 



268 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

his term, little of importance was done but already 
he had seen enough signs to know that the Com- 
promises were not worthy of the name and that 
they were certain to fail in establishing that per- 
manent basis of peace which their authors fondly 
! believed they would. He derided them as no com- 
promises at all but surrenders, and insisted that 
disunion was coming unless the people would arouse 
themselves to the gravity of the situation. He 
Ifound little consolation anywhere, ffis was a voice 
crying in the wilderness and when he left the Sen- 
ate it was with a feeling of despondency that grew 
as he saw the plans of the South develop. 



CHAPTER XIII 

MISSOURI KEPUDIATES BENTON" 

There is one more act of Benton's life in Con- 
gress to which attention must be particularly di- 
rected. No sooner had California fallen into our 
hands, owing largely to his son-in-law's aggressive 
action, an event which he said would have occurred 
regardless of the Mexican War, than Benton began 
planning for transportation facilities. Though a 
foe of marine subsidies, he saw that here was a case 
in which federal aid must be given. He was largely 
responsible for establishing the pony express which 
at first was looked upon as a chimera ; then the tel- 
egraph line ; and still more important the railway 
running directly to the coast, of which idea he 
was the real originator. This scheme was too large 
for the people and many of his best friends used to 
sigh mournfully and lament his declining intel- 
lectual powers. It was regretted, too, that his great 
career was to be blighted by his continual advocacy 
of a project which was deemed too ridiculous for 



270 THOMAS H. BENTON 

consideration — and this within twenty years of the 
completion of the line. 

Indeed, if we consider the character of the op- 
position he met at the time, it would seem that 
he was looked upon as a mountebank. During 
his first term in the Senate things were said concern- 
ing his attitude which would have deeply wounded a 
less sensitive man. If a Senator to-day should an- 
nounce that Alaska is destined to have a population 
of thirty millions and to become an important factor 
in American civilization, he would make far less 
of a sensation than did Benton eighty years ago. 
The statesmen at Washington looked upon him, 
not as a seer and prophet, but simply as one who 
desired to aggrandize the West at the expense of 
the rest of the country. All his talk about civili- 
zation west of the Eocky Mountains was considered 
rhodomontade for home consumption. They had 
found by experience that Benton had an astonish- 
ing way of opening the public purse for the benefit 
of his section, and they thought that he had a purely 
/ personal interest in the discussion. This was wrong, 
I Although Benton as a rule had as little of the imag- 
l inative quality as any Senator, except when he al- 
lowed it to run riot through the classics, it is cer- 
lin that he did foresee the future of the West as no 



MISSOUEI REPUDIATES BENTON 271 

other man in the country. He was no wild enthu- 
siast or selfish sectionalist ; he was a tireless student 
and a most intelligent observer of events. He had 
been studying the railway question since the first 
locomotiv^e was used. He had been thinking of the 
Pacific coast and fighting for it when most of his 
contemporaries were wearied at the very mention 
of the subject and devoutly wished that Oregon and 
Benton were at the bottom of the Pacific. At a 
time when there were no diplomatic relations be- 
tween this country and the Far East, and when we 
had only claims to Oregon and not a port on the 
Pacific, he had the courage to direct the minds of 
the people to that section and, while pointing west- 
ward, to make the statement which sounded so 
visionary in the ears of his hearers : 

"There is the East : there is the road to India." 
It is diflBcult to say when the thought of a trans- 
continental railwaj' first publicly appeared, but it 
did not assume a definite form until after the Mex- 
ican War, when we gained so much new territory 
and discovered that it was rich in gold. Then the 
subject was talked about with enthusiasm but with 
very little practical sense. Indeed for some years 
it was believed to be impossible to surmount the 
Eockies, and the Gadsden purchase of a strip along 



272 



THOMAS H. BEXTON 



the New Mexico- Arizona border was made simply 
to provide a route for a raili-oad below tlie mountain 
ranges. 

It was not long, however, before engineers in- 
sisted that a road could be built straight across the 
country and Benton was one of the first to be con- 
verted to that view. He was anxious to get at the 
exact facts, and in the end he knew more about the 
subject than any one else. From his son-in-law, 
Fremont, he learned a great deal concerning the 
topographical featui-es of the country and he was 
the first to insist that the route should be to the 
North, following the path of the bufialo. He said 
that the buffalo was the best engineer, because he 
found that the great herds when going North for 
the winter crossed the upper passes, following the 
line of least resistance, and he insisted that their 
route be followed. If his advice had been taken 
millions which have since been expended in recti- 
fying early mistakes might have been saved. 

Benton never believed in direct government aid 
for the railroad. His idea was that a land grant 
would be sufRcient, and in his day indeed there was 
little thought of construction on any other terms. 
He proposed to give the road a liberal right of way 
and his first speech on the subject dealt with the 



/. 



MISSOUKI REPUDIATES BENTON 273 

value of the grant to the building corporation. As 
a matter of fact, this scheme was chimerical and the 
road was never built until the nation had furnished 
practically all the funds in addition to a much 
more liberal land grant than Benton had suggested, 
and thirty years elapsed after the completion of the 
work before the government's money was repaid. 

Benton took a natural coui'se in all the debates 
which preceded construction. There were many 
interests to be conserved. Chicago wished what- 
ever trade advantages might come from the con- 
struction of the line, while Benton was naturally anx- 
ious that St. Louis should maintain its supremacy. 
It happened in the end that no government aid was 
extended to a road on the eastern side of the Mis- 
souri and the terminus was fixed at Omaha ; but not 
until Benton had done his best in behalf of St. 
Louis and had pointed out that at the mouth of the 
Kaw would be built one of the greatest cities in the 
country, a prediction which Kansas City to-day 
verifies. 

Benton went into the railroad question with that 
determination and energy which characterized him 
in all emergencies in his career. He talked re- 
peatedly to the Senate and to any individual who 
would listen to him. He spoke in St. Louis and 



/ 

274 THOMAS H. BENTON 

other parts of Missouri ou the subject. There is 
some reason for believing that he hoped to turn the 
thoughts of the people from slavery and allied 
questions to that of Western expansion, but in this 
he failed. 

If it be asked exactly what Benton accomplished 
in legislating for the transcontinental railway, the 
answer may do him grave injustice. He intro- 
duced many bills looking to surveys and govern- 
ment aid and spoke often on the subject. It can 
be fairly stated that he was responsible for the first 
surveys, though he left the Senate before anything 
of importance was accomplished. 

His speeches on this subject are entertaining. 
They are florid, and full of what he considered 
poetic fancy and prophecy, but one can see that he 
understood the coming glories of the far West bet- 
ter than any of his contemporaries, and if the 
American people forgot much of his language, 
they at least remembered his general position. 
When after the war the government took up the 
subject earnestly, nearly every speaker in Congress 
referred again and again to his words. It was laid 
up against him, it is true, that the route of the 
buffalo which he proposed was not feasible, since it 
ran through a country where there was too much 



MISSOUEI EEPUDIATES BEXTON 275 

winter. Benton had sharply criticised the engi- 
neers who had selected the central route, declaring, 
as proved trne, that it crossed a wilderness of alkali 
beds, while his own was not only through the best 
country in the West, but led directly to the port 
that was certain to become a great station on the 
road to China. Even at a much later day it was 
said that no wheat could be raised in the latitude 
of the Dakotas as it was too far north, a statement 
that sounds strange in face of the fact that millions 
of acres are being bought by Americans much far- 
ther north in Canada and a transcontinental rail- 
way is being constructed still nearer the Arctic 
Circle than the Canadian Pacific. Here was another 
example of the fact that Benton had studied actual 
conditions and knew whereof he spoke, while others 
who hastily glanced at the subject called him a 
dreamer of wild and mystical views. 

It was during the Mexican War that he found the^ 
sentiment of Missouri drifting farther and farther 
away from him, and into the control of the nulli- 
fiers and the disciples of Calhoun who were soon 
to become open secessionists. Atchison, his col- 
league, had become the dominant power in the 
state. They diflFered radically on every point con- 
nected with the slavery question, and met each 



276 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

other in Missouri as the leaders of two distinctly 
antagonistic factions. 

. The crisis came when Claiborne F. Jackson 
(later the governor who tried to carry the state into 
, secession) offered in the state senate a set of resolu- 
tions which declared slavery to be a national insti- 
/ tution. In effect they were an endorsement of nulli- 
fication and of secession, having no other purport 
than to prei^are the people of Missouri for the 
separation that was already contemplated. These 
resolutions were passed and became the dominating 
issue in state politics. They were practically of 
the same tenor as the resolutions which Calhoun 
had offered in the United States Senate not long 
before and which Benton had opposed with all the 
earnestness of his nature. Calhoun seemed to be 
surprised at this opposition and said he had ex- 
pected Benton, coming as he did from a slave- 
holding state, to support the resolutions. Benton 
\ replied that it was impossible for Calhoun to have 
\ expected anything of the sort. "Then," said Cal- 
houn, " I shall know where to find the gentleman." 
To which Benton replied in words that ought to be 
upon his tombstone : 

*'I shall be found in the right place— on the side 
of my country and the Union." 



MISSOUEI REPUDIATES BENTON 277 

These so-called Eesolutions of 1847 did not pass 
the Senate but they formed a kind of Magna Charta 
for the secessionists and it was of them that Benton 
remarked : 

"As Sylla saw in the young Csesar many Ma- 
riuses, so do I see in the Calhoun resolutions many 
nullifications." \ 

Benton took the stump in Missouri against the 
Claiborne Jackson resolutions. He denounced nul- 
lification and secession and was firm for the preser- 
vation of the Union at any cost. When the elec- 
tions were over, it was found that the legislature was 
divided into three tolerably equal groups : Benton- 
ians, anti-Bentouians(both Democratic factions) and 
Whigs. The contest for the senatorship was long 
and stubborn. The two wings of the Democracy 
fought each other more bitterly than they did the 
Whigs, and in the end members of both factions 
voted for Geyer, the Whig candidate, and elected 
him. 

Benton did not consider this defeat irretrievable J 
He had no notion of giving up public life and be- 
lieved that in the next contest he could regain his 
seat, in which opinion he was mistaken. He took 
ill-fortune philosophically and was soon elected to 
represent a St. Louis district in the House, though 



/ 

^78 THOMAS H. BENTON 

he failed of re-electiou because he would uot make 
terms with the Kuow Nothings who were then 
active factors in politics. Benton did not believe 
in their policies or their methods and once more 
faced defeat rather than compromise his own views. 
In fact, by this time Benton was scarcely a Mis- 
sourian. He had been in the state very little in the 
last ten years of his service in the Senate and had 
gotten out of touch with the people. The rising 
generation had not the reverence or respect for him 
that their fathers had had. 

Benton was sadly missed in the Senate. Indeed 
he had been there so long that it seemed impossible 
there could be a Senate without him. Even those 
who had been most bitter in their denunciation of 
him and his views, greatly regretted the turn of 
fate which lost him the seat he had so highly 
honored. Like many other men he was most 
appreciated when he was gone. He was a main- 
stay for many of the Senators. He would do the 
work for them with alacrity. K any difficult task, 
involving great research, were necessary, the more 
indolent members cheerfully left it to Benton, who 
never failed them and whose reports had the au- 
thority of law. 

Missouri never dishonored herself so much as in 



MISSOURI REPUDIATES BENTON 279 

dispensing with the services of her greatest citizen, 
a fact which she understood when it was too late. 
Benton could not have prevented the war. His 
work was done. But he could have been of great 
assistance in the trying days before Sumter fell, and 
there is little reason to doubt that he would have 
survived until that period had Missouri continued 
to delight to honor him. 

One of his last official duties in the Senate was to 
welcome the young Sumner, who had been chosen 
from Massachusetts as a Free Soiler. Benton warmly 
grasped the young man's hand, but assured him 
that he had come to the Senate too late. All the 
great issues and all the great men were gone ; there 
was nothing left but snarling over slavery, and no 
chance whatever for a career. There seems a little 
of the spirit of bravado, and perhaps a tinge of 
bitterness, about this, coming as it did when he 
was just passing off the stage.' 

His single term in the House of Representatives 
was notable because of the fight he conducted un- 
availingly against the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise. If he was committed to one thing more 
than another, it was this Compromise, to effect 
which he had done so much just before his en- 
' Blaine's "Twenty Years in Congress," 



^280 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

trance to the Senate, and which he had striven to 
maintain during the remainder of his life. It was 
in the first flush of Democratic triumph after the 
election of Pierce and the defeat of Scott and the 
Whig party that the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise was determined upon. For many facts 
here given the writer is indebted to several in- 
formants who were in Washington at the time, and 
who were not only Benton's personal friends, but 
constant witnesses of the scenes which were enacted 
in those stormy days. 
When the motion was introduced, Benton raged 

ke a lion. He was easily the most conspicuous 
an in the House. Now well past seventy, his 

eonine form made an impression not only upon 
visitors but upon members of all parties. He was 
particularly careful of his dress and loved the 
admiration that was unsparingly bestowed upon 
him. He still expected to return to the Senate, and 
Jooked upon his experience in the lower House as a 
rather amusing incident in his career. Whenever 
it was known that Benton would speak — and he 
spoke often — the galleries were crowded. With a 
voice growing weak with age, but with energy 
unabated, the old parliamentary warrior fought to 
the last. He even exaggerated some of his manner- 



MISSOURI REPUDIATES BENTON 281 

isms and in fact almost essayed the role of an 
actor as lie raged up and down the aisles, or paced 
the open space in front of the speaker's desk. In 
these later years his wit was more acute, his humor 
more genial. Regardless of party affiliations, the 
members gathered around to hear him. Some of 
them had not been born when the Missouri Com- 
promise was passed. Most of those reckoned to be 
his contemporaries were boys in school when he was 
already a Senator. He was wont to emphasize this 
fact, and it made him none the less popular. Mem- 
bers applauded him to the echo, laughed at his wit, 
turned pale under his invective — for on the matter 
of the repeal, his language was vitriolic and his 
denunciation terrible. 

Now that the members of the triumvirate were all 
dead, Benton was considered the most remarkable 
man in either branch of Congress, and had he for a 
moment bowed the knee to Baal, he still might 
have died in harness. But he was as implacable 
toward the Know Nothings who ended his career in 
the House as toward the pro-Southern men who un- 
seated him in the Senate, and so he lost his office. 
This would have discouraged most other men, but 
Benton resolved on one last effort. He still believed 
that Missouri would be true to the Union and in 




THOMAS H. BEXTON 

1856 ran for governor on an independent Demo- 
cratic ticket. In spite of his great age and de- 
clining health, he made a tremendously active 
campaign, speaking in every section of the state, 
sounding aloud his doctrines of loyalty to the 
Union and denouncing nullifiers and secessionists 
unsparingly. It was in vain ; the people no longer 
knew his voice or heeded it. 

Thus ended the political career of Thomas H. 

\ Benton. No more independent spirit ever sat in 
the Congress of the United States, none that was 
truer to duty and none having in general a better 
comprehension of public affairs. 

\ 



CHAPTEE XIY 

FRIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 

In spite of his long public life, Benton was not a 
man of many warm friendships. His austerity of 
life, his devotion to study and in the latter part of 
his career, his wife's illness, kept him from that 
close touch with men which others of his day en- 
joyed. Moreover he had an independence of spirit 
which, joined to his vanity, made him unapproach- 
able except after long acquaintance. In the latter 
part of his life, when old friends were gone, he made 
few new ones, though maintaining an air of affa- 
bility toward all. / 

In the beginning of his career he seems to have 
been drawn close to John Randolph, of Roanoke, on 
the basis probably that difference in characteristics 
leads to mutual appreciation. The most brilliant 
part of Randolph's career had passed before Benton 
came on the stage, but the old man seemed so much 
drawn to the younger one that, as we have seen, he 
desired Benton to second him in the duel with Clay, 
though their acquaintance must have been brief. 
It was becoming more and more evident to all that 



284 THOMAS H. BENTON 

there were times when Kandolph was mentally un- 
balanced and on the occasion of a personal call, 
Benton resolved to sound him to see if he had any 
suspicion of such a thing. Eandolph was very fond 
of quoting a quatrain dealing with imbecility and 
Benton asked him if the lines could possibly have 
any application to himself. The elder replied: "I 
have lived in di-ead of insanity." This was enough 
to give Benton a cue to what he had long suspected 
of the man of whom it was Siiid on one occasion : 
"He has wasted enough intellectual jewelry this 
evening to equip many speakers for great orations." 
Notwithstanding the political dilferences between 
himself and Eufus King, last of the original Feder- 
alists, Benton greatly admired him. He thought 
that he paid much more attention to the aged man's 
advice than his career indicates. Benton was at- 
tached to the old social order and though he always 
voted against the Federalists he seems to have 
greatly rt^spected many of them. Another subject 
of his admiration was Macon, "the last of the 
Eoraans," whose career was perhaps the longest of 
any man who ever sat in Congress. Jefferson Ben- 
ton met but once, when he went to Monticello for 
the purpose, coming away with an enlarged opin- 
ion of the man. On that occasion they were dis- 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 285 

cussing internal improvements and Benton was ask- 
ing advice about a survey for a road through 
Georgia to Louisiana. Jefferson told him that such 
a survey had been made and indicated where in 
Washington he would find a map of it. On return- 
ing, Benton found it just where Jefferson had said it 
was, with the result that a large expense and much 
time was saved to the government. 

Though professing to accept the political philos- 
ophy of Jefferson, Benton deviated from it very 
widely. It would be more correct to say that he 
was a Jacksonian in politics, though he would have 
preferred the statement that Jackson was a Benton- / 
ian. The intimacy between these two leaders of the / 
new Democracy was not so close as one might im- / 
agine. Benton was no sycophant, seldom went toj 
the White House unless asked to do so and though! 
he fought Jackson's battles, it was not so much be- \ 
cause they were Jackson's as because he made them \ 
his own. It appears that they did not confer very 
freely on public matters, — not so much as Ben- 
ton would have desired at some times ; but this was ,' 
probably due to the temperaments of the two men. / 
Benton could not belong to any man's ''Kitchen 
Cabinet" and when he acted in emergencies it was / 
largely on his own initiative. He fought for years 



/ 



286 THOMAS H. BEXTON' 

for the expunging act and his victory touched ^' Old 
Hickory" deeply; but he seldom sent for Benton 
to consult him on public matters of grave impor- 
tance, and apparently never showed him his an- 
nual messages before forwarding them to Con- 
gress, since Benton frequently mentions the omission. 
/ Benton did not care for mere show of power. He 
'desired the power itself and this he exercised on the 
floor of the Senate. He was many times offered cab- 
inet positions by Jackson and other presidents but, 
though he would have made an excellent executive 
ofl&cer, he constantly refused. Even when the pres- 
idency was dangled before his eyes he declined to 
consider himself in connection with the office. He 
seldom attended public dinners, which were more 
of an institution then than now. Clay delighted to 
be dined and to be called upon to speak. Benton 
I usually declined in a letter which expressed his 
I views with more force than good diction. His 
\ aversion to attentions of this kind was proverbial 
\ and this trait served to estrange him sometimes 
'from those whom he might better have sought to 
propitiate. 

^His relations with the members of the triumvirate 
varied from time to time. Sometimes he was on 
terms of the warmest intimacy with Clay and his 






FEIEXDSHIPS AND CHARACTEEISTICS 287 

family. There had been an estrangement between 
them for a while previous to the duel with Randolph, 
and the night before the meeting Benton went to see 
Clay in the hope that something might arise to make 
an accommodation possible. Clay received him 
kindly and in the presence of his family they dis- 
cussed matters of general import, but no opening 
came as Benton had hoped, and he went to his home 
saddened over the prospect of seeing Clay fall the 
next day. 

When the fight over the bank came on, Benton 
and Clay exchanged many bitter words and at 
times came almost to blows ; but after Clay made 
his so-called farewell speech in 1842, there was a 
restoration of good feeling. That speech was one 
of the most notable in the annals of the Senate 
and at its conclusion many members were in tears. 
Benton dryly remarked that he thought there was 
only one man in the world who could successfully 
make such a demonstration and he hoped none 
would attempt to repeat it unless a second Henry 
Clay api)eared, of which he was skeptical. 

At first he was on terms of friendship with Cal- 
houn and had a great admiration for his abilities 
as well as for those of Hayne. He did not under- 
stand the drift of the coalition which these two 



288 



THOMAS H. BENTON 



Carolinians were trying to effect between the West 
and the South, and it was long before his eyes 
were opened. As soon as he discovered the nulli- 
fication plans of Calhoun, he broke with him po- 
litically and personally except for the most formal 
recognition. 

"With Webster he seems always to have been 
friendly. There were times when the members 
of the triumvirate, though working together, were 
not on speaking terms with one another and must 
therefore conduct negotiations through an out- 
side party. Sometimes Benton was the emissary, 
though oi)posed as a rule to their course. 

For Van Buren he appears to have had the warm- 
est affection of his career. They were long together 
in the Senate and when Van Buren was Vice-presi- 
dent, Benton was very close in his intimacy, which 
was finally broken by Van Buren' s repulse of him 
just before his inauguration as president. Their 
unhappy relations were not of long continuance, 
however, and they soon became warm friends 
once more. Benton was greatly disappointed 
when Van Buren was defeated for the nomination 
of 1844, but when he was chosen as a presidential 
candidate by the Free Soil Democracy in 1848, 
would not support him, as he did not believe in a 



FEIEI^DSHIPS AND CHARACTEEISTICS 289 

political party formed for the agitation of the 
slavery question. 

For twenty-five years Benton was more or less in 
contact with John Quincy Adams who opposed 
pretty nearly every measm-e which he supported ; 
yet when Adams died Benton was one of the two 
men in the Senate selected to deliver a eulogy upon 
him. On such occasions Benton was always at his 
best. He was a man of deep sentiment and at 
these times it overflowed. He was in many re-\ 
spects like Adams in the purity of his life, devo- 
tion to duty and the freedom of his career from 
scandal ; but intellectually the men were of differ- 
ent types. Benton made a brief address on Adams's 
career, which was one of the best ever given, show- 
ing how the man of blood and iron could appre- 
ciate the scholar and the gentleman. 

One of his earliest friends was Hugh L. "White, 
of Tennessee, from whom Benton received his law 
license. White was one of the extraordinary men 
of his time, being second in ability to hardly any 
man in the country. When Benton was a member 
of the legislature of Tennessee he succeeded in 
having passed a bill to rearrange the judiciary of 
the state on a modern basis. The question of the 
chief justiceship was one which gave party leaders 



290 THOMAS H. BENTON 

no little concern. All desired White but feared 
he would not accept it, as he had already refused 
pretty nearly every gift the people could offer and 
was only in the beginning of his career. Upon 
Benton's going to him he secured his consent, and 
he was elected without opposition. For many 
years White and Jackson were close friends and 
when the former came to the Senate he was warmly 
received by his early pupil. Benton soon found, 
however, that his friend was not an unalloyed sup- 
porter of Jackson and in the fight for the expung- 
ing resolution White was aligned against him. 
Finally the legislature ordered White to vote for 
the resolution and he resigned rather than do so, 
becoming a candidate for the presidency against 
Van Buren in 1836. Benton alleges that this mis- 
take of his life was due to the fact that he had just 
married a new wife, who had been a boarding- 
house keeper and, having social ambitions, now 
wished to be mistress of the White House. When 
White was defeated his wife was distressed beyond 
measure, while he himself was much chagrined and 
died, as Benton believed, of disappointment. 

With Buchanan he had had friendly relations 
for many years though not always one of his warm 
admirers. In 1856 when he supported him, as 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 291 

against his own son-in-law, not one word was said 
in derogation of Benton's conduct because of his 
known fidelity to principle. Such an exhibition is 
almost unparalleled in American politics yet it was 
consistent with Benton's whole course through life. 
He may have been wrong in his judgments on some 
occasions but he never hesitated to follow his con- 
victions no matter where they led him. At an in- 
teresting point in his career he was badly needed 
on the stump in Missouri. His aged mother was 
then very feeble and her death was expected at any 
moment. He declined to make speeches or to take 
any other part in politics during the whole summer. 
It is gratifying to note that this filial duty was re- 
warded, for in spite of his absence, the elections re- 
sulted as he wished. 

Considering how uxorious he was, how fond of 
the family circle and how passionately he loved his 
children, it is difficult to understand his devotion 
to the dueling code. This was another exhibition 
of his Eoman firmness, for although he refused to 
accept or to issue challenges while in the Senate, 
believing it inconsistent with his duty, there is not 
the slightest reason to doubt that he would have 
done so under other circumstances, and have gone 
to the field with composure, even if he knew that 



292 THOMA>S H. BEXTOX 

he were to fall aud leave his wife and four beau- 
tiful daughters unprotected. His was the character 
of a Curtius or a Jephtha. Even when the Graves- 
Cilley duel ' made it apparent that something must 
be done to stop the practice Benton Man not satis- 
fied with the law that was passed. He hated dueling 
even if he had killed his man at ten feet, but he 
believed that there was no substitute for it to keep 
men up to the highest standards of honor. He 
thought that the use of the bowie-knife and the re- 
volver, which became very frequent as the contest 
over slavery grew more bitter, was due to the fact 
that dueling had been made a crime ; he therefore 
was not satisfied to see the code abolished. 

He was so high an authority on the subject that 
his opinion was frequently invoked when affairs of 

'Jonathan Cilley, of Maine, and William J. Graves, of Ken- 
tucky, l)oth members of Congress, fought a duel in l^^oS, at 
Bladensburg (near Washington), under peculiar circumstances. 
James Watson Webb, a New York editor, commented severely 
upon a speech by Cilley, and eventually sent the latter achallenge 
by the hand of Graves. Cilley declined and in the end Graves 
made the quarrel his own, challenged and was accepted. Rifles 
were used and at the third fire Cilley was killed. From start to 
finish it wa.s considered that the duel was one of extraordinary 
atrocity. It of course could not have taken place under normal 
ethical coTiditions ; even under the code the affair should have 
been accommodated without lo.ss of honor to those concerned 
and it never should have proceeded under any circumstances 
beyond the first exchange of shot«. As a result a very .severe 
law was pas,sed which it was expected would suppress dueling 
at Washington. 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 293 

honor were to be fought and sometimes he was able 
to compose them. One of the last acts of his life 
was to settle a dispute for James B. Clay, a son of 
Henry and then a member of the House, who was 
involved in an affair with a member from New 
York. A meeting seemed inevitable. This was 
deplored by every one because the death of either 
combatant would certainly result in a still further 
inflaming of the people on the subject of slavery. 
In this dilemma it was finally arranged that Benton 
should act as arbiter and after careful considera- 
tion he gave it as his opinion that under the code 
there could be no meeting. The principals and 
their friends acquiesced, as did also the public, 
though nothing less than Benton's great authority 
could have accomplished the happy result. 

It has seldom happened in a career so long as his 
that no charge of inconsistency could be brought 
against him. That is not the highest tribute, as 
many great men have radically changed their views 
without losing public respect; but in Benton's case 
there was no change. He was always for sound 
money and against the bank ; always for cheap 
lands and against distributing the surplus among 
the states ; always against lavish appropriations for , 
internal improvements ; always against slavery ex- 



294 THOMAS H. BENTON 

'tension or agitation ; and always unqualifiedlj' for 
the Union. When he saw Missouri drifting away 
from his position, he not only did not go with the 
tide, but he strenuously fought the secession spirit 
and in the end was willing that a Whig should suc- 
ceed him, rather than one of the state-rights' Dem- 
ocrats of the Davis- Atchison school. And this was 
at a time when one word on his part would have 
kept him in the position he so much desired to 
hold. His was a sort of firmness not common in 
those days or since. Clay said that Benton had a 
hide like a hippopotamus, which was another way 
of saying he was inflexible. Clay had good reason 
to fear Benton, for though the latter was not to be 
compared with the former in originality of concep- 
tion, brilliancy of execution or elegance of diction, 
yet in practically all their encounters the eventual 
result was that Benton won and Clay lost. If Clay's 
own skin had possessed more of the quality of the 
hippopotamus's, it might have been better for his 
success. 

Benton's first great disappointment in life was 
over the failure of Congress to pass the bill creat- 
ing the grade of lieutenant-general in the army so 
that he could go to Mexico and carry on the war. 
Why Benton should have wished to wear gold 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 295 

braid and set squadrons in the field, unless he 
thought it would lead him to the White House, 
it is difficult to understand. Though he did map 
out the campaigns in the large, it was hardly 
to be expected that he could execute them with 
the promptness and thoroughness of Taylor or 
Scott; yet in his Memoirs he affects superiority 
to both. When his friends interfered and killed 
the bill as it neared final passage, Benton felt the 
blow keenly, but cherished no resentments over 
th^ matter. 

r^hSi he grew older he used to be very fond of 
taking new senators by the hand and instructing 
them in the manners and customs of the chamber. 
He assumed a patronizing air but with great 
dignity. He was a very large and heavy man and 
his pompousness was so quaint that it was well re- 
ceived by the budding statesmen who in time 
found that Benton could be, and frequently was, of 
real service to them. He never failed to answer a 
request of the sort. 

In getting a proper estimate of Benton's attitude 
toward society, it should be remembered that he was 
by birth and family connections an aristocrat 
while his early training and temperament had 
made him a man of the people. He owed his 



296 THOMAS H. BENTON 

name to the fact that his mother had grown up in 
the family of her uncle, Colonel Thomas Hart, who 
was the father of Mrs. Henry Clay. Colonel Hart 
was one of the wealthiest and most aristocratic 
men in America and the family connection always 
aided Benton. In his contact with equals Benton 
ever seemed a trifle arrogant : toward those whom 
he considered inferiors he was kind, even if occa,- 
sionally condescending. 

/ Although Benton professed to be a pronounced 
/Democrat of the Jefferson school, in some things 
I he was a Federalist. His father had been a Tory 
^and he had grown up in Tennessee in a rude school 
but in later life he became more and more con- 
servative in many of his views. Not only was he 
a great stickler for the decorum of the Senate, but 
on all occasions he was likely to be rather cold 
in his conversations with any but his intimates. 
Senator Eufus King gave him an idea that made a 
profound impression on his conduct. After Ben- 
ton had delivered a speech in which he had in- 
veighed against Great Britain and monarchies in 
general. King liad a serious talk with the young 
man, explaining that such views were too radical. 
King had been born a subject of a British sovereign 
and had always professed loyalty up to the time of 



FEIE:^^DSHIPS AK^D CHARACTEEISTICS 297 

the troubles just preceding the Revolutiou. He 
said it was a mistake to suppose that a man could 
not be loyal to a monarch and still have notions of 
individual and social liberty. This was in no dis- 
paragement of American democracy ; it was given 
as a fact which could not be ignored. Benton 
often thought of what King told him and it gave 
him a more liberal idea of European statesmen 
than he had previously held. 

It seems hardly possible that Benton's narrow 
views on some questions could have been main- 
tained had he lived much longer. He was an 
ardent believer in state-rights, but when the 
chief tenet of the Calhoun school became nullifica- 
tion, it met his instant and unyielding disapproba- 
tion ; yet as that was perhaps the legitimate result 
of the extreme views of the state-rights men, we 
may suppose that Benton would have found it 
difficult to say exactly where he drew the line. As 
he grew older and the younger school of Southern 
statesmen came on the stage, he found himself 
more and more isolated. By the time the Whig 
party was dead, he was really more of a Whig 
than a Democrat, but he could not become a Re- 
publican. 

His views on slavery were those of many others 



298 THOMAS H. BENTON 

of his generation. Though hating the institu- 
tion, he kept slaves even in the District of 
Cohimbia. One of the things that sank bitterly 
into his soul was the agreement of this country to 
maintain a squadron on the African coast to sup- 
press the slave trade. He detested that trade but 
thought this government ought not to be called 
upon to do police work ; that Great Britain, which 
was responsible for the introduction of slavery into 
the United States, and had lately taken such an 
interest in abolishing it the world over, ought to 
carry the burden. Benton must have known that 
the trade was still flourishing, and that annually 
thousands of slaves were being smuggled into this 
country, but it was a part of his laissezfaire policy 
to ignore real conditions and let the Southern peo- 
ple ha-v^e their own way. This was impossible as he 
later found out to his cost. 

At a time when the nation was fairly prosperous 
[and the states were burdened with debt, an effort 
was made to have the Federal government as- 
sume all the debts of the states. Many of them 
had defaulted on their bonds and there was great 
indignation in Great Britain because of the losses 
to investors. Benton set his face resolutely against 
this idea and fought the measure to its death. He 



FRIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 299 

believed, aud rightly, that the precedent would be 
an evil one ; that the payment of state debts by 
Hamilton was purely for expenses incurred in the 
war of the Revolution and was in no sense on a 
par with the present proposal. He opposed all 
such jobbery aud all sorts of extravagance angered 
him, while as a foe of monopoly he would have 
been terrified at many things which have hap- 
pened since his day. ] 

He kept his financial affairs to himself, but he 
appears to have used up most of his substance by 
the time he died. It is a little strange considering 
his opportunities that he never made more effort to 
accumulate property. While he had worked hard 
in youth and the family had comparatively little 
ready money, they had a good deal of property, 
and he might have gained much if his ambitions had 
been in that direction. Apparently he was very 
generous toward his brothers and sisters, who prob- 
ably received more than their shares of the estate. 
He left the plantation in early manhood, first, for 
the army, which did not bring him the fame he 
sought, and then for the law in which he was more 
successful. It was usual in those days for the sons 
who received an education to be content with that, 
which may be the reason that when he reached St. 



300 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Louis he had only four hundred dollars in his 
pocket, though that was a much larger capital than 
the same sum would be esteemed in these dajs. 
He occasionally bemoaned the fact that he had not 
more money to invest in lands in the West, which 
he was certain would be very valuable in the near 
future. His son-in-law, Fremont, was at one time 
thought to be a millionaire mine owner, but the 
mines contained little or no gold. His favorite 
daughter, Mrs. Fremont, spent her last years in ab- 
solute poverty, being supported by the quiet bene- 
factions of friends who deceived her in thinking 
the money came from some old investments. From 
her father she appears to have received nothing. 

In his dealings in financial matters Benton was 
exceedingly conscientious. He abhorred debt and, 
as we have seen, desired that good money only be 
used. At one time he refused to take his senatorial 
pay in notes, though they were perfectlj^ good, and 
insisted on " the hard or a protest," which he wrote 
across the face of the draft. He did protest and the 
matter was settled so that he actually got the gold, 
but the incident was not very forceful as a prec- 
edent until after his whole plan of specie pay- 
ments had been worked out. 

Benton's religious sentiments were very deep and 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 301 

he was a constant attendant on public worship. He 
was orthodox in his views and was a great student 
of the Bible, which he revered. When in anger, 
according to a very peculiar habit of the time, 
he would swear "like a trooper," but the prac- 
tice was never laid up against him. 

It has already been mentioned that in youth he 
was something of a musician and throughout his 
life was fond of singing. His daughters were 
educated with great care and on Sunday evenings 
he delighted to hear them sing and sometimes 
joined them at the piano. He went to concerts 
until his wife was taken ill, and after her death he 
seems only once to have revoked his rule about 
going to public amusements when Jenny Lind 
visited Washington. Outside of music he exhib- 
ited little fondness for the fine arts and had almost 
no recreation, except horseback riding, of which 
he was very fond. In Washington he rode about 
on a spirited black charger, proud of the sensation 
his appearance created. On these occasions he was 
likely to be accompanied by a granddaughter. 

In his family life he was exceedingly happy and 
few public men have ever spent so much time at 
home. His affection for every member of his 
family amounted almost to a passion. He fairly 



302 THOMAS H. BENTON 

worshiped his wife and daughters aud no sacrifice 
for them was too great. Considering how arrogant 
he could be, how stubborn he always was, and how 
passionate in early life, his conduct in the family 
circle was remarkable and all that the most 
capricious could desire. During his wife's long ' 
illness he showed a tenderness and chivalry toward 
her on all occasions that was generally and favor- 
ably commented upon. 

Their family life was clouded not only by her 
long illness, but by the death of their two sons^ 
early in life. Both of these were lads of promise, 
■whom the Senator expected would wear his mantle. 
The eldest, Eaudolph, was named for his father's 
friend ; the younger, James McDowell, named for 
his grandfother, is said to have had an unusually 
sweet disposition and his death almost broke the 
Senator's heart. It has been said elsewhere that his 
favorite daughter married against his wishes and 
the same is reported of her sisters. Of these, 
Eliza married William Carey Jones ; Sarah, Rich- 
ard Taylor Jacob ; and Susan, Baron Gauldree 
Boilcau, of the French Legation. In his old age 
Benton found much comfort in his grandchil- 
dren, of whom there were many. None of his 
domestic afflictions were brought to public atten- 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTEEISTICS 303 

tion, and he never complained, though they were 
as iron to his soul. It was a peculiarly hard fate 
that one who abjured all of that public social 
intercom-se, so common in his day, should be 
denied in the home he loved so much the highest 
measure of domestic bliss. He gave small dinners 
to intimates, which were highly esteemed, but his 
hospitality was not lavish, both because he did not 
enjoy that sort of thing and because he could not 
afford it. Much of the time his wife could not pre- 
side at the table, and on some occasions when 
she did her husband had to do practically all the 
honors, yet never with the slightest embarrass- 
ment. He had a colored cook who was famous 
for her skill and in his later years to have dined 
at Benton's was considered a high honor by the 
younger men in Congress, who had come to look 
upon him as a sage. 

Benton was in Washington at the time of his 
brother Jesse's encounter with Carroll, which led 
to the Jackson imbroglio and he at once flared 
into a heat of passion, becoming an uncompromis- 
ing partisan of his brother without waiting to 
hear what his old chief and friend. General 
Jackson, had to say about the matter. When 
the encounter came he rushed into it in a spirit 



s 

364 



THOMAS H. BENTON 



inore befitting a Highlaud Scottish chief of the 
i sixteenth century than a lawyer and legislator of 
the nineteenth. His affection for Jesse continued 
through life, though the latter seems to have been a 
man of much smaller calibre. Benton at one time 
even relaxed in his determination never to ask 
office for his family so far as to endorse a nephew's 
claims, though apparently he did not make the 
original application. 

He was always ready to talk about health to any 
one who would listen to his views, and seeing how 
he had been snatched practically from the jaws of 
the grave by his own severe regimen, he had some 
reason for the faith in his practice. He was daily 
rubbed down by a negro servant with a horse 
brush, which would have almost made a Spartan 
quail. He began this in youth when fleeing from 
consumption and kept it up until the end, although 
it must have taken a very stoical mind to submit to 
its tortures. It has been noted that he lived an 
abstemious life at his mother's request, and when 
she died it was a terrible sorrow to him, though 
she was then very old. 

In his heart he was generous, and almost too 
confiding for his own good. Any injustice made 
him boil with indignation. When two of the 



FRIENDSHIPS AKD CHARACTERISTICS 305 

officers of the Somers were hanged at the yard-arm 
for alleged mutiny, one of them being Spencer, 
son of the Secretary of the Navy, Benton spent 
mouths investigating the evidence, and his opinion 
was that no mutiny was intended aud that the 
court-martial of the officers was couducted not to 
get at the truth but to protect the offenders. 

As he fell farther and farther away from his 
party he lost the respect of none. He would have 
nothing to do with Anti-Masomy or Know Noth- 
iugism, aud it was the followers of the latter idea 
who were finally responsible for his overthrow. 
He made a constant and unavailing effort his life 
long to confine national political discussion and 
action to a narrow range of subjects which he 
deemed coustitutioual. He was not enough of a 
seer to perceive that this was impossible. He 
could not understand the temper of the times 
and when anti-slavery ideas began to be injected 
into politics he was out of his element, though 
always the most upright and moral of men. 

Much comment has been made by historians as to 
Benton's inflexibility on public questions and his 
refusal iu defeat to acknowledge error. They seem 
to think that his long arguments on the constitu- 
tionality of public questions smelled more of the 



306 



THOMAS H. BEXTON 



lamp of the student than of a broad acquaintance 
with the Constitution or the exact conditions of 
public policy. It is true that niauj' of his speeches 
are very difficult reading in these days, but one 
must look at them in the spirit of the time in which 
they were uttered. His opposition to the bank as 
unconstitutional, in the face of a Supreme Court 
decision upholding it, is by some laid up against 
him. This is unfair. The bank which he fought 
was not the institution of Hamilton which had been 
under review by the courts, and in any event there 
were circumstances wliich made it entirely proper 
for him as a legislator to hold to his view. He had 
been hostile to the institution from the very begin- 
ning, and it is believed that he had much to do 
with finally forming Jackson's opinions on the sub- 
ject. It is true that Jackson had always been op- 
posed to the bank which in the "West was esteemed 
an odious monopoly; but what Jackson thought as 
a private citizen and what course he would take as 
President were different considerations. Historians 
have threshed over an immense amount of straw to 
try to prove that Jackson came to Washington 
ready to smite this Apollyon, but the evidence is at 
least inconclusive. In a brief time he did go into 
opposition, but this was partly due to the place 



FRIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 307 

held by the bank people in partisan politics and 
also to the influence of Benton, whose views on 
finance were generally correct, and who was in this 
particular more than usually well acquainted with 
actual economic conditions. What Benton saw 
most clearly was that the West was growing with 
enormous rapidity under the stimulus of cheap and 
fertile lands. In his day, when civilization was less 
complex and the natural resources of the country 
proportionately larger, it was much easier than now 
for an energetic, frugal set of farmers to achieve 
what was considered a competency. And because 
they did get along so well with so little money, 
Benton adjusted many of his theories in finance to 
their situation. 

It has been previously stated that Benton was not 
a man of vivid imagination. In one respect this 
view must be modified. He saw more clearly than 
any of his contemporaries the futui^e of the great 
Northwest, and his imagination ran riot in his ef- 
forts to paint its glowing prospects. After elimi- 
nating his quotations from Horace and some rather 
involved efforts at apotheosis, we find that he had 
a pretty correct view of the potentialities not only 
of the West of his day but of the far West and North- 
west, and the far East. 



308 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

In his many speeches on the land question or the 
Oregon boundary, he constantly referred to that 
great section beyond the Kocky Mountains which 
even then was beckoning. And though in the very 
interesting life of Marcus Whitman, who did so 
much to save Oregon, we find that it was Ben- 
ton's colleague. Dr. Linn, who introduced Whit- 
man to President Tyler, thus securing a temporary 
reversal of the administration's policj^ in regard to 
Oregon, it seems very likely that Benton was his 
sponsor in this affair. 

Whitman arrived in Washington in 1843 at the 
precise time that Webster had ignored the Oregon 
question in the treaty with Great Britain, as pre- 
viously related. Webster along with many others 
was convinced that Oregon was of little use to any 
one and felt that its remoteness made it impractica- 
ble for us to press our claims upon the section, cer- 
tainly if any risk of friction with Great Britain was 
involved. Tyler entirely agreed with Webster, 
though it is commonly supposed that the principal 
reason for his willingness to let Oregon go was his 
hope that Great Britain would thereby be induced 
to acquiesce in his plans for the annexation of 
Texas. Whitman labored with Webster and Tj'ler 
and certainly accomplished much, — just how much 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 309 

has been open to dispute. There seems, however, 
to be no reason to doubt that either Tyler or Web- 
ster, or those speaking for them, agreed that if 
Whitman would lead a caravan across the plains 
and up the Missouri to Oregon, thus demonstrating 
its accessibility, our claims to the country would 
be kept alive and pressed at the suitable time. 
Whitman kept his promise as did the administration. 
Dr. Linn was in perfect accord with Benton but 
temperamentally his opposite, and was in better 
favor at the White House. It is impossible, how- 
ever, not to believe that the change in the Oregon 
policy of the administration was largely due to the 
influence of Benton who was practically the only 
important man in Washington to defend that dis- 
tant country against all assaults. On one occa- 
sion he said: "This ample, rich and elevated 
mountain region is deemed, by those unacquainted 
with the farthest West, to be, and to be forever, the 
desolate and frozen dominion of the wild beast and 
the savage. On the contrary, I view it as the fu- 
ture seat of population and power, where man is to 
appear in all the moral, intellectual, and physical 
endowments which ennoble the mountain race, and 
where liberty, independence and love of virtue are 
to make their last stand on earth." 



310 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 

This was drawing the long bow with a vengeance 
and indeed statements similar to these rather injured 
than helped his cause. There were some practical 
men in that day who were willing to learn but they 
were little affected by perfervid oratory in which 
there was a good deiil of obvious overstatement. 

It thus came about that he made enemies by say- 
ing too much of a country so far away and taking 
too little interest in Texas which was near at hand. 
Benton's views on the last-named question were al- 
most exactly those of Henry Clay at the opening of 
his canvass in 1844, but he lacked the facility of 
Clay in explaining his position. 

Clay, as a candidate for the presidency, wrote 
the famous Raleigh Letter (so called from the 
place of writing it) in which he announced that he 
was favorable to the annexation of Texas only in 
case Mexico, Texas and the United States were 
agreed upon the proposition, to the end that it be 
accomplished without injustice to any one and in 
consonance with national honor. It made an im- 
mense sensation and if Clay had never modified 
the statements therein contained he would probably 
have been elected President. Because Benton 
agreed to the sentiments expressed in this letter, 
he was by some esteemed a Clay man, though he 



FEIENDSHLPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 311 

gave his acLheieuce to Cass. Benton was not ac- 
customed to writing letters on matters of national 
policy except to his constituents, preferring to dis- 
cuss great measures in the Senate ; and though it is 
not likely he would ever under any circumstances 
have written such a document as the Raleigh Let- 
ter, because he did not like to discuss matters re- 
lating to slavery when they could be avoided, it is 
certain that if he had taken such a stand nothing 
could have moved him from it. Unfortunately, 
Clay, finding the Raleigh Letter uuj)opular in the 
South, took advantage of a slight change in the 
situation and wrote to a Southern friend tw^o letters, 
known as the Alabama Letters, in which he seemed 
to hedge very decidedly on the position taken in 
the Raleigh Letter. In consequence he was accused 
by the Abolitionists of blowing hot and cold, of de- 
siring to be an anti-slavery man in the North and a 
pro-slavery man in the South. This was not just to 
Clay but the result was his defeat. Benton hated 
the Abolitionists as much as Clay did, but he was 
so constituted that he never could have taken a 
strong position on any subject and modified it later. 
For this reason the relations thereafter between 
him and Clay were anything but pleasant. 

Enough has been related in this narrative of the 



312 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

uncompromising nature of the man so that it is 
scarcely necessary to comment at length upon it. 
Among all the great enmities of his life — and there 
were many — that against Jackson seems to have 
been the only one that was ever fully repented of 
and forgotten. There were occasions when he was 
with difficulty kept out of duels with Clay and 
others, in spite of his resolutions on the subject ; 
and though at times he would be on speaking 
terms with his opponents and observe an ordinary 
degree of courtesy toward them, he nursed his 
wrath, which broke out on the next occasion with 
greater virulence than before. K "earth has no 
rage like love to hatred turned," the exact reverse 
seems to have been true in regard to his relations 
with Jackson. The bitterness which he for years 
felt toward him is in strange contrast with his later 
admiration and is the one feature of his whole 
career which seems contradictory. One can only 
believe that if his imperious nature could have 
been touched in the right spot on other occasions 
and in other relations, the result would have been 
beneficial to all concerned. 

Certainly it was quite as much his mannerisms 
as the principles he espoused, that started the op- 
position to him at the last. There seems little 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 313 

doubt that if he had been more tactful, he could 
have overcome his political enemies in Missouri 
and secured the sixth election to the Senate. iTact 
was not one of his qualities and he had been spoiled 
for any semblance of diplomacy in politics by the 
singular successes of his early career. \ There were 
many times when the positions he took, as on the 
Oregon question or Texas annexation, were ex- 
ceedingly unpopular at home and he was severely 
criticised by the press and denounced in public 
meetings even by those who had been his former 
partisans. On many occasions he had seen his 
position justified by time and he counted rather 
too much on this. He seems never to have reflected 
that his continued residence in Washington had 
made him a stranger to the rising generation in 
Missouri, and he overestimated the effect which his 
many services and acknowledged abilities had upon 
the people. When he declared that ''the slavery 
question was like the plague of frogs which ap- 
peared everywhere from the scullery to the nuptial 
couch," he at least underfstood how important and 
wide-spread the issue had become. He insisted 
either on ignoring or smothering it when such 
things were impossible. At the time when Atch- 
ison, Claiborne F. Jackson and other radical pro- 



314 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

slavery leaders, were active in every part of Mis- 
souri, stirring up opposition, not so much because of 
personal antipathy to Benton, but because he stood 
in the way of their cherished plans, he took the 
matter altogether too calmly. He would refuse re- 
quests to speak and at times seemed rather cavalier 
in replies to his constituents. He evidently looked 
upon himself as their shepherd and considered it 
their duty to follow him without question. 

This was a temperamental fault which in so 
strong a nature as his could not be overcome. It 
seems probable that if he had waited a few years in 
Missouri before going to Washington he would 
have been more closely identified with the people 
and the state, and might have kept a closer hold on 
their affections at the last. He did have some dif- 
ficulty at first in making the people see that he was 
the sort of senator they wished ; for as has been 
noted his election was accomplished with difficulty 
in the face of bitter opposition and under circum- 
stances which long rankled in the breasts of his op- 
ponents. If he could have come into close personal 
contact with his constituents in 1845-50, he might 
have achieved success without sacrificing principle. 
That was not to be and argues a Benton that did 
not exist. » 



FiUEXDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 315 

It is difacult to speak of Benton's vanity m any 
detail without doing the man an injustice. Egotism / 
clothed him as with a garment. At times it was so- 
noticeable as to detract greatly from his usefulness. 
It undoubtedly acted as a bar to whatever ambi- 
tions he had for the presidency. And, indeed, it 
is a little difiicult to understand on what grounds 
his vanity was based. Physically he was a remark- 
able man, six feet tall, well-built and with an enor- 
mous head and striking face such as no one ever 
saw without remarking upon. But though Benton 
was rather vain of his looks and always dressed 
with scrupulous care his appearance was not the 
chief cause of his egotism. His vanity was centred 
largely upon his knowledge of men and events in 
American history. His memory seems to have been 
very retentive as to facts. To him dates were an 
open book and such was the cast of this faculty that 
he could remember the very page of a volume on 
which was recorded what he wished to look up. 
He was a great student of maps and frequently con- 
founded those who tried to impose bogus drawings 
on the Senate. In this respect he seems to have 
had no superior in his time, not even that great 
scholar, John Quincy Adams. But his erudition 
must be looked upon in a comparative light and 



316 THOMAS H. BENTON 

viewed according to the standards of his age rather 
than our own. Although his learning tended to 
pedantry he was for his age and times much more 
of a scholar than his mannerisms indicated. 

It is not possible to compare the intellectual 
power of Benton and Webster: there is almost 
exclusively a contrast. Yet, because Benton could 
remember dates and facts, could answer almost 
instantly any question propounded to him on 
any public question, there is no doubt that 
he looked upon himself as much superior to 
Webster. 

The last fifteen years of his life were lived almost 
constantly at Washington where he had a fine home 
filled with many valuable books and manuscripts. 
Books were less numerous then than now but they 
were more carefully read. Benton was more omniv- 
orous than discriminating in his reading which seems 
to have been largely that of history and biography 
and very little of helles lettres. Considering how 
much he read, it is astonishing that he was not able to 
absorb something of the style of the great mas- 
ters ; but he never did, even in the remotest 
degree. He loved to air his learning in the Sen- 
ate, using Latin and Greek phrases more as a 
freshman than as a scholar, though it is certain 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 317 

that he did have a tolerable acquaintance with the 
classics. 

Wherein he failed was as a speculative philoso- 
pher. He ignored or despised the arts of the school- 
men. Although he never used any of the classic 
models in his speeches, there is some reason to be- 
lieve that he looked upon himself as the American 
Burke. He much overestimated the effect which 
his utterances had on the public. He believed 
that the attention of the American people was 
centred on "Benton," as he was wont to speak of 
himself in a high, impersonal fashion, much more 
so than the situation warranted. 

His attacks on Calhoun were at times modeled, 
as he thought, on the orations of Cicero against 
Cataline, yet there was not the slightest resem- 
blance between them except in the intense patriot- 
ism which characterized both. Indeed, Benton 
lived so much apart from men in his intellectual 
activities that he became largely divorced from the 
society which surrounded him, and in time he began 
to look upon his isolation as due to his own pre- 
ponderating imijortance. There is no doubt of this 
and many instances might be multiplied to show 
how he felt, as for instance, his belief that every 
American would buy his "Thirty Years' View." 



318 THOMAS H. BEXTON^ 

But it would be wrong to bring forward this feature 
of his character too prominently. He had so many 
virtues that his petty vanities and his egotism were 
not objectionable to his peers, once they came to 
understand the man. It is evident that he was 
little given to introspection in which he differed 
greatly from Adams. He was impulsive and dog- 
matic, and seemed anxious only to get facts from 
his associates, caring little for their views. In his 
later years he was greatly irritated over opposition 
to himself in Missouri. He would not permit the 
slightest interruption in his public speeches to con- 
stituents and when any was attempted would pro- 
ceed in his lordly manner to pour vitriol upon the 
devoted head of his opponent. It cannot be said 
that on these occasions he displayed discretion or 
that he was always right. He used abuse instead of 
argument and at times indulged in language which 
was neither refined nor justifiable. This habit grew 
as he saw that the people of Missouri were turning 
from him at a time when he looked upon himself 
as the most important man in the country and one 
whom liis state could not do without. These faults 
brought about his own undoing. 

His hatred of dictation was such that he never 
would attend a caucus of any kind. He considered 



FEIEXDSHLPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 319 

that it was undemocratic and subversive of justice, 
and that it relegated the power really to a minority 
as was often the case when a bare majority of the 
majority were able to control legislation. He also 
had a distrust of national conventions, which did 
not appeal to his sense of fitness. He liked the 
older method of nominations by resolutions of mass 
meetings, or of legislatures, or possibly of state or 
county conventions. The two-thirds rule was par- 
ticularly obnoxious to him especially after 1844 
when it killed Van Buren whom he was anxious to 
see nominated. 

Another annoyance was the established custom\ 
of allowing members to pair on any question. This \ 
was putting a premium on absence from Congress \ 
and to him seemed little less than a crime. In his j 
early days the compensation of a member was eight I 
dollars a day — about twelve hundred dollars a year. / 
Many members could not give up their time entirely ^y 
for such a sum and found it convenient to pair and 
go home. Benton made it his proud boast that he 
was in the Senate every day from the opening to 
the close of the session unless detained by illness, \ 
and he was insistent that others should be as faith- 
ful as he. 

All great men have their strong individualities. 



320 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

It would be hard to pick out a man in all our Ms- 
tory who has in any respect resembled Benton. 
He stood alone among all his peers and cared very 
little for the approbation of other men — certainly 
not enough to change the current of his thoughts or 
take any action that would be contrary to what he 
deemed the plain duty before him. It would be 
idle to say that he was without faults or limitations, 
but it is nothing less than the truth to assert that 
he was one of the most remarkable of American 
statesmen. His record of public service has per- 
haps been as important for good as that of any of 
the great characters in our history. Had it been 
his good fortune early in life to have come under 
the refining influences of the best culture of America 
it would have greatly improved him, though it 
might by the same token have made it impossible 
for him to achieve the career which he has left to 
posterity. Benton was undoubtedly one of the most 
forceful men of his age but owing to many circum- 
stances he has left smaller impress upon the public 
mind than many of his associates, who were not 
only less virile but who accomplished less for the 
country. As was remarked in the opening chapter 
of this volume, he died just before the outbreak of 
the Civil War and there was such a plethora of dis- 



FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 321 

tinguislied men arising out of that conflict that 
Benton's name has sufi"ered undeserved eclipse 
which is now being removed under the searching 
light of historical investigation. 



CHAPTER XV 

OEATOE AND AUTHOR 

That Benton's memory survives at all is due 
largely to the monumental work, "Thirty Years' 
View of the United States Senate," which he com- 
pleted shortly before his death. There is scarcely 
a single book of its kind that is so valuable to the 
historian or student, but it is very little read by 
any one else. When Benton lost his seat in the 
Senate he began this work and completed it with 
incredible rapidity. He collected private papers 
from Jackson and others. He had always been 
careful to preserve his own, so that the first volume 
contains a most authoritative commentary on 
many of the important events in our history. 
This he wrote with his own hand but it is a most 
curious composition. He did not appear openly 
on the title page as its author and a portion of it 
is written in the third person. At other times he 
freely uses the first personal pronoun. Again he 
speaks of himself as *'the author of this View" or 
as "Mr. Benton." While for the most part the 
record is chronological, there are very important 



OEATOR AND AUTHOR 323 

lapses in it aud many things are introduced in 
an unusual manner. 

He was at work on his second volume when his 
house and all its valuable contents were burned. 
He started to work again philosophically but he 
frequently laments the loss of the papers, and the 
second volume, which ought to be the more im- 
portant of the two, is therefore less so than it 
should be. His remarkable memory made it pos- 
sible for him to utter statements on his own author- 
ity and these must be accepted as facts, though the 
original documents would have been priceless. 
The volumes were issued some years apart and were 
widely read at the time, though he expected for 
them a much greater circulation than they obtained. 
Now it is possible to purchase them for a small 
sum at second-hand book stores. 

Benton's intention was to make this work an 
argument as well as a history. Didactically it 
was devoted to showing that there was no fear the 
North would interfere with slavery ; that it never 
had done so ; that Calhoun was wrong in saying 
that it had or would do so ; and that the South 
Carolinian himself in his earlier and better years 
had entertained liberal views on the subject. Per- 
haps Benton's hope was that he could prove nullifi- 



324 THOMAS H. BENTON 

cation so absurd historically, and personally as 
regarded its followers, that it would be possible to 
stem the rising tide of rebellion. He devoted 
much space to showing that Calhoun had ac- 
quiesced in the refusal to take Texas in 1818 and 
succeeded, though the papers he sought had been 
abstracted from the files of the State Department. 
Still he told his story so circumstantially and with 
such an array of corroborative evidence, that there 
is no longer a doubt of its truth. He made the 
mistake of supposing that the Southern people after 
the Compromises of 1850 desired any such proof. 
They were bent upon a cotton empire of their own 
and were not to be convinced against their will. 

The unfortunate part of the work is that it ends 
very abruptly and just at the time when he might 
have given us much that would now be interesting 
and helpful. He refused to continue it with much 
detail after the Compromises of 1850, evidently 
hoping that an agreement could be reached and 
having no desire needlessly to wound the feelings 
of any person. He omitted a good many thiugs 
that he might have told us. In the book there is 
very little that is personally offensive regarding 
any man. It is appeal and not invective. Later 
on he prepared for a new edition a slight biograph- 



ORATOE AND AUTHOR 325 

ical sketch of himself which throws little light on 
his career, and is mostly devoted to his public 
policy with which every one was already familiar. 

As a rule Benton wrote very badly. He never 
mastered the simplest rules of composition. Some- 
times his sentences contain two hundred words, and 
are so full of dependent clauses that the meaning is 
vague. He delighted in veiled allusions, and in 
reading the book there are times when it is diificiilt 
to understand whether he is speaking for himself 
or not. He wrote many short appreciations of the 
great men he had known and was fond of obituary 
comments. His fine vein of sentiment was often 
spoiled by a bungling manner of expression. 

Benton's other great work was an abridgment 
of the Debates in Congress from the beginning 
down to 1850. This was a colossal undertaking, 
calling for untiring industry and no little judg- 
ment. It comprises many volumes and is still 
a standard work, though it loses much from the 
fact that in early times speeches were not re- 
ported verbatim but in the present Hansard style 
of the British Parliament, in which the sense and 
the language for the most part are preserved, with- 
out verbal accuracy. This immense task was com- 
pleted in about a year and without assistance. 



326 THOMAS H. BENTOX 

Indeed he never employed a clerk until in his 
last days. His penmanship was very florid, given 
to flourishes but perfectly legible. 

His only other book was an argument against 
the Dred Scott decision. This was a political 
tract and his last literary effort, some of it be- 
ing dictated when he was too weak to speak above 
a whisper. It was a strong paper for the times. 
It completely demolished the Taney theory that 
slavery was a national institution, penetrating by 
virtue of the Constitution wherever that instrument 
had effect. What angered Benton most was the 
declaration that the Missouri Compromise was un- 
constitutional on the ground that Congress had no 
right to legislate against slavery in the territories. 
It is true that at this time the Missouri Com- 
promise had been repealed bj^ Congress and the 
decision was of no practical effect so far as that 
legislation was concerned ; but as slavery still ex- 
isted and the status of some of the territories was 
not yet fixed, Benton was alarmed. He saw that 
the result of this opinion, — for it was that rather 
than a decision, as the Dred Scott case had been 
dismissed on a technicality and there was no oc- 
casion for the obiter dicta which followed — would 
be to make the South much more bitter and that 



OEATOR AND AUTHOR 327 

the North would resist its expression of reseutinent 
by every possible means. He had lived to see the 
Border War burst out in its fury just beyond the 
confines of Missouri ; to see Senator Atchison, his 
colleague, become the leader of the radical pro- 
slavery party ; and he wrote for posterity his pro- 
test against the heresies of the school of nullifiers 
who had now become almost open secessionists. 

This work created much attention at the time it 
was issued, but pretty soon the war came on and 
with it the whole slavery question was eliminated. 
To-day it is still one of the ablest treatises on the 
whole subject, though interest in it is academic 
rather than practical. 

During his career Benton published, in pamphlet 
form, many of his speeches which he circulated ex- 
tensively. Aside from the works already men- 
tioned, his literary efforts were confined to his early 
editorship of the Missouri Enquirer, which was 
more vigorous than polite, more strenuous than 
elegant in style. He frequently contributed to the 
Globe, but did not sign his articles. He wrote 
many letters to his constituents and others and was 
especially strong in stating his views when invited 
by political bodies to address them, although their 
invitations were almost invariably declined. His 



328 THOMAS H. BE^s'TOX 

greatest speech outside of the Senate and Missouri 
was in Faneuil Hall, in Boston, not long before his 
death. 

We have seen that Benton was vain of his oratory 
and without much reason. He spoke incessantly 
and his set speeches were prepared with great care. 
Here again we see the faults of his style. He lacked 
the power of concentration and generally was not 
lucid. In matters pertaining to finance he was at 
his best, for here he dealt with cold facts ; but when 
he let his imagination have free rein, he was likely 
to wander. He never tired of calling up the his- 
tory of Greece and Kome for examples and prece- 
dents or warnings. Though this was a custom of 
his age, he certainly exceeded any normal limit, 
and it is doubtful if those who read his speeches 
were greatly edified by his display of historical 
knowledge. When worked up to a high pitch of 
feeling, Benton was seldom choice in the use of 
language, but in the revision of his speeches he 
eliminated many of the things which would have 
been more interesting than some that were allowed 
to stand. 

His voice was strong but his throat weak, often 
bleeding freely after a long speech. "Wlien he had 
an important address to make, he would sometimes 



ORATOR AXD AUTHOR 329 

keep almost absolute silence for three or four days. 
In the melee of forensic debate, he would often 
become so husky that he could scarcely be heard. 
His throat affection was a result of his early tend- 
ency to tuberculosis. If in early youth he could 
have come under the care of a good teacher of 
elocution, he would have been greatly benefited. 
He was likely to confound noise with impressive- 
ness. Clay's voice was one of the most perfect in 
history. So clear was it that it was said people in 
the gallery could hear perfectly when he spoke to a 
neighbor in a whisper, at the same time that Benton 
was making the chamber resound with his voice. 

It is essential to a proper understanding of 
Benton that a few brief extracts be given from his 
speeches and writings since they well exhibit his 
cast of mind. As preserved, the speeches are 
almost destitute of that wit for which he was far- 
famed. The reason for this is that he considered 
such exhibitions as purely temporary in effect and 
liable to misconstruction when read. 

In 1824 he made the first of many speeches in 
favor of a change of the method of electing presi- 
dent and vice-president, a subject that was dear to 
his heart, though he could seldom keep an audience. 
He had a plan which was scarcely better than the 



330 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

one now employed. It was to have a direct election 
in each Congressional district, the vote in such dis- 
trict counting as one electoral vote for the man who 
received the largest number of popular votes. This 
entirely eliminated the votes based on senatorships 
and was opposed by the smaller states which were 
naturally averse to suffering any loss of power. 

In the course of a very long argument in which 
he went ovxr a great deal of history this occurs : 

"Of the twenty-five centuries that the Eoman 
state has existed, to what period do we look for the 
generals and statesmen, the poets and orators, the 
philosophers and historians, the sculptors, painters, 
and architects, whose immortal works have fixed 
upon their country the admiring eyes of all suc- 
ceeding ages ? Is it to the reigns of the seven first 
kings ? — to the reigns of the emperors, proclaimed 
by the praetorian bands? — to the reigns of the 
Sovereign Pontiffs, chosen by a select body of 
electors in a conclave of most holy cardinals? Xo 
— we look to none of these, but to that short inter- 
val of four centuries and a half which lies between 
the expulsion of the Tarquins, and the re-establish- 
ment of monarchy in the person of Octavius Caesar. 
It is to this short period, during which the consuls, 
tribunes, and praetors, were annually elected by a 



OEATOR AXD AUTHOR 331 

direct vote of the people, to which we look our- 
selves, and to which we direct the infant minds of 
our children, for all the works and monuments of 
Roman greatness ; for roads, bridges, and aque- 
ducts constructed ; for victories gained, nations 
vanquished, commerce extended, treasure im- 
ported, libraries founded, learning encouraged, 
the arts flourishing, the city embellished, and the 
kings of the earth humbly suing to be admitted 
into the friendship, and taken under the protection, 
of the Roman people. It was of this magnificent 
period that Cicero spoke, when he proclaimed the 
people of Rome to be the masters of kings, and the 
conquerors and commanders of all the nations of 
the earth. And, what is wonderful, during this 
whole period, in a succession of four hundred and 
fifty annual elections, the people never once pre- 
ferred a citizen to the consulship who did not carry 
the prosperity and the glory of the Republic to a 
point beyond that at which he had found it." 

This is not very consequential. It is not very 
well done and not altogether true. There are col- 
umns of such talk which seem to have very slight 
connection with the subject in hand. Clay would 
have illuminated it by talking very briefly of his- 
tory and paying a good deal of attention to existing 



332 THO:\rAS H. BENTON 

conditions, while "Webster in a few Miltonian sen- 
tences would have expressed much more than there 
is in pages of Benton's efibrt. 

When called upon to speak without preparation 
Benton often made a better showing. Then he had 
no time to look up precedents or concoct long 
sentences. We have already seen how vigorously 
he opposed the Panama mission in which Claj- was 
so much interested, and in a speech of some warmth 
he had this to say on a burning topic : 

" Our policy toward Hayti, the old San Domingo, 
has been fixed for three and thirty years. We 
trade with her, but no diplomatic relations have 
been established between us. We purchase coffee 
from her, and pay her for it ; but we interchange 
no consuls or ministers. We receive no mulatto 
consuls, or black ambassadors from her. And 
why ? Because the peace of eleven States in this 
Union will not permit the fruits of a successful 
negro insurrection to be exhibited among them. It 
will not permit black consuls and ambassadors to 
establish themselves in our cities, and to parade 
through our country, and give to their fellow 
blacks in the United States, proof in hand of the 
honors which await them, for a like successful 
effort on their part. It will not permit the fact to 



OEATOR AND AUTHOR 333 

be seen, and told, that for the murder of their mas- 
ters and mistresses, they are to find friends among 
the white people of these United States. No, this 
is a question which has been determined here for 
thi'ee and thirty years ; one which has never been 
open for discussion, at home or abroad, neither 
under the presidency of General Washington, of the 
first Mr. Adams, of IVli'. Jefferson, JVIr. Madison, or 
IVlr. Monroe. It is one which cannot be discussed 
in this chamber on this day ; and shall we go to 
Panama to discuss it ? I take it in the mildest sup- 
posed character of this Congress — shall we go there 
to advise and consult in council about it ? AVho are 
to advise and sit in judgment upon it? Five na- 
tions who have already put the black man upon an 
equality with the white, not only in their constitu- 
tions but in real life : five nations who have at this 
moment (at least some of them) black generals in 
their armies and mulatto senators in their con- 
gresses ! ' ' 

This is better. It is direct, incisive and states 
openly what others had thought but had feared to 
express. 

Another interesting example is given in his 
tribute to Jefferson who had just died : ''He was 
no speaker, but a most instructive and fascinating 



334 THOMAS H. BENTON 

talker ; and the Declaration of Lidependence, even 
if it had not been sistered by innumerable classic 
productions, would have placed him at the head of 
political writers. I never saw him but once, when 
I went to visit him in his retirement ; and then I 
felt, for four hours, the charms of his bewitching 
talk. I was then a young senator, just coming on 
the stage of public life — he a patriarchal statesman 
just going off the stage of natural life, and evidently 
desirous to impress some views of policy upon me 
— a design in which he certainly did not fail. I 
honor him as a patriot of the Revolution — as one 
of the founders of the Republic — as the founder of 
the political school to which I belong ; and for the 
purity of character which he possessed in com- 
mon with his compatriots, and which gives to 
the birth of the United States a beauty of par- 
entage which the genealogy of no other nation can 
show." 

The personal note in this is rather fine and the 
sentiment is not badly expressed. In writing of 
men, Benton always appeared to better advantage 
than when discussing principles. 

He made innumerable speeches on the subject of 
cheap or free lands for the poor. No man under- 
stood the question better than he but he was not 



OEATOR AND AUTHOR 335 

always happy in his arguments. The following ex- 
presses his whole philosophy : 

''Tenantry is unfavorable to freedom. It lays 
the foundation for separate orders in society, an- 
nihilates the love of country, and weakens the spirit 
of independence. The farming tenant has, in fact, 
no country, no hearth, no domestic altar, no house- 
hold god. The freeholder, on the contrary, is the 
natural supporter of a free government ; and it 
should be the policy of republics to multiply their 
freeholders, as it is the policy of monarchies to mul- 
tiply tenants. We are a republic, and we wish to 
continue so : then multiply the class of freeholders ; 
pass the public lands cheaply and easily into the 
hands of the people ; sell, for a reasonable price, to 
those who are able to pay ; and give, without price, 
to those who are not. I say give, without price, to 
those who are not able to pay ; and that which is 
so given, I consider as sold for the best of prices ; 
for a price above gold and silver ; a price which 
cannot be carried away by delinquent officers, nor 
lost in failing banks, nor stolen by thieves, nor 
squandered by an improvident and extrava- 
gant administration. It brings a price above 
rubies — a race of virtuous and independent la- 
borers, the true supporters of their country, and 



336 THOMAS H. BENTON 

the stock from which its best defenders must be 
drawn." 

The ideas here expressed are admirable. They 
are those which the country finall}- adopted to its 
infinite gain. But there is an awkwardness of ex- 
pression which is notable and as this speech had the 
benefit of at least two revisions in type after it was 
delivered, it can be seen that the fault lay in Ben- 
ton's fundamental lack of literary style. In fact, 
of all the many speeches that he made in Congress, 
there is hardly one that is ever quoted in these 
days, — indeed hardly a single expression is remem- 
bered. This is the more remarkable because he 
spoke so often and his constant hammering at a sub- 
ject usuallj' resulted in success. On the contrary, 
people to-day continue to read the speeches of Web- 
ster, Clay and Calhoun, and remember their words, 
though as a matter of fact these statesmen often 
lost their measures and failed in their contentions. 

We have seen that Benton opened the debate on 
the Foot resolution in which Webster and Hayne 
had that greatest of forensic duels. Foot's resolu- 
tion of inquiry into the desirability of stopping the 
survey of public lauds and thus taking them out of 
the market was concurrent with one in the House 
which looked to a division of the proceeds of land 



ORATOR AND AUTHOR 337 

sales among the states. There are a few sentences 
in this opening speech by Benton that are worthy 
of remembrance. He was the only speaker who 
kept to his text in that debate, and the following 
exti-act shows the moral fibre of the man as well as 
his views on the subject : 

"I will vote for no such inquiry. I would as 
soon vote for inquiries into the expediency of con- 
flagrating cities, of devastating provinces, and of 
submerging fruitful lands under the waves of the 
ocean. I take my stand upon a great moral prin- 
ciple : that it is never right to inquire into the ex- 
pediency of doing wi'ong. 

"The proposed inquiry is to do wrong; to inflict 
unmixed, unmitigated evil upon the new States and 
Territories. Such inquiries are not to be tolerated. 
Courts of law will not sustain actions which have 
immoral foundations ; legislative bodies should not 
sustain inquiries which have iniquitous conclusions. 
Courts of law make it an object to give public sat- 
isfaction in the administration of justice ; legislative 
bodies should consult the public tranquillity in the 
prosecution of their measures. They should not 
alarm and agitate the country; yet, this inquiry, if 
it goes on, will give the greatest dissatisfaction to 
the new States in the West and South. It will alarm 



338 THOMAS H. BENTON 

and agitate them, and ought to do it. It will con- 
nect itself with other inquiries going on elsewhere 
— in the other end of this building — iu the House 
of Eepresentatives — to make the new States a source 
of revenue to the old ones, to deliver them up to a 
new set of masters, to throw them as grapes into the 
wine press, to be trod and squeezed as long as one 
drop of juice could be pressed from their hulls. 
These measures will go together ; and if that resolu- 
tion passes, and this one passes, the transition will 
be easy and natui-al, from dividing the money after 
the lands are sold, to divide the lands before they 
are sold, and then to renting the land and drawing 
an annual income, instead of selling it for a price 
in hand. The signs are portentous ; the crisis is 
alarming ; it is time for the new States to wake up 
to their danger, and to prepare for a struggle which 
carries ruin and disgrace to them, if the issue is 
against them." 

Outside of his speeches on financial measures this 
excerpt is perhaps equal to anything that Benton 
has preserved for us. It is true that in the course 
of the debate he was deceived as to the intentions 
of Hayne and Calhoun, but his position was sound 
and he consistently adliorcd to it through his whole 
career. But when the slavery question was intro- 



ORATOR AND AUTHOR 339 

duced, he returned to the subject in another speech, 
still supposing that Calhoun was as anxious as him- 
self to allay any feeling on the subject and to pre- 
serve the Union. He took the course not unusual 
in those days, of attacking the Abolitionists and 
making them responsible for the agitation, though 
on this point also he was soon to be undeceived. 
He said: 

'' I can truly say, that slavery in the abstract, has 
but few advocates or defenders in the slaveholding 
States, and that slavery as it is, an hereditary in- 
stitution descended upon us from our ancestors, 
would have fewer advocates among us than it has, 
if those who have nothing to do with the subject 
would only let us alone. The sentiment in favor of 
slavery was much weaker before those intermed- 
dlers began their operations than it is at present. 
The views of leading men in the North and the 
South were indisputably the same in the earlier 
periods of our government. Of this our legislative 
history contains the highest proof. The foreign 
slave trade was prohibited in Virginia, as soon as 
the Revolution began. It was one of her first acts 
of sovereignty. In the convention of that State 
which adopted the federal constitution, it was an 
objection to that instrument that it tolerated the 



S40 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

African slave-trade for twenty years. Nothing that 
has appeared since has surpassed the indignant de- 
nunciations of this traffic by Patrick Henry, George 
Mason, and others, in that convention. 

"Sir, I regard with admiration, that is to say, 
with wonder, the sublime morality of those who 
cannot bear the abstract contemplation of slavery, 
at the distance of five hundred or a thousand miles 
off. It is entirely above, that is to say, it affects a 
vast superiority over the morality of the primiti\e 
Christians, the apostles of Christ, and Christ Him- 
self. Christ and the apostles appeared in a prov- 
ince of the Eoman empire, when that empire was 
called the Roman world, and that world was filled 
with slaves." 

There is not much eloquence in this speech, but 
from it we learn what were his views as to the 
Abolitionists. 

One more example of his manner of composition 
must suffice. It is the opening of the chapter on 
the downfall of the National Bank in his "Thirty 
Years' View." As he was perhaps more respon- 
sible than any man for having slain this "dragon," 
he naturally was much elated and attempted to de- 
scribe it in his very best vein. "We have here per- 
haps the most characteristic example of his style, 



ORATOK AND AUTHOE 341 

when he is auxious to make a favorable impression, 
and of course he fails lamentably : 

" When the author of the ^neid had shown the 
opening grandeur of Rome, he deemed himself jus- 
tified in departing from the chronological order of 
events to look ahead, and give a glimpse of the dead 
Marcellus, hope and heir of the Augustan empire ; 
in the like manner the writer of this View, after 
having shown the greatness of the United States 
Bank — exemplified in her capacity to have Jackson 
condemned — the government directors and a secre- 
tary of the treasury rejected — a committee of the 
House of Representatives repulsed — the country 
convulsed and agonized — and to obtain from the 
Senate of the United States a committee to proceed 
to the city of Philadelphia to ' wash out its foul 
linen ' ; — after seeing all this and beholding the 
greatness of the moneyed power at the culminating 
point of its domination, I feel justified in looking 
ahead a few years to see it in its altered phase — in 
its ruined and fallen estate." 

It will be noted that this is a single sentence and 
about as awkward a one as an educated man could 
write. 

It remains to be said that although Benton had 
many faults as a writer and a speaker, he was 



342 THOMAS H. BENTON 

much more successful than many of those who 
were greatly his superiors. The "Thirty Years' 
View" will be remembered and read by those who 
seek to learn the history of the times involved, 
when most other books of the period have been 
lost sight of. And in spite of the lack of style, or 
perhaps because of the peculiar style of the work, 
it has an individual flavor that is not at all dis- 
pleasing. The book bears on it the stamp of the 
man, is so completely a revelation of his thoughts, 
as well as a narrative of his deeds, that we could 
not wish it different. It might be a finer literary 
composition but it would not be so vital, so per. 
sonal — would not be Benton. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE END 

There is something beautiful in contemplating 
the last seven years of Benton's life. At an age 
when most men are willing to retire from activity, 
he fought the hardest political battles of his life and 
lost them all but one. Such reverses would have 
embittered a lesser man ; but he was made of 
sterner stufT and to the last was hopeful. When 
his beloved home, containing all his records and 
literary treasures, was burned in February, 1855, he 
looked on with composure and was afterward taken 
by his daughter Jessie to her own house near by, 
where she records : ' ' Neither of us had slept, but 
he made me lie down and we talked calmly together 
as only those who love one another can talk after 
a calamity." It is interesting to note that when 
Congress heard of the disaster, it immediately ad- 
journed as a mark of its respect and sympathy for 
him. 

His wife died in 1854, and for four years more 
Benton strove with the political stars in their 
courses. The last two years of his life showed a 



344 THOMAS H. BENTON 

constant decline in physical powers, but he labored 
to the end to complete his literary work. 

Two years before his death he suspected that his 
trouble was cancer. Without comniuuicating his 
fears to any one, he carefully read up the disease 
and for a long time noted the symptoms, which he 
reported to the physicians. They found his diag- 
nosis to be correct. He was so cheerful that they 
hoped for a while that he might live, but even 
Benton's indomitable spirit at length began to fail. 
He had said as a young man when attacked by 
consumption: "If it had been a battle, I would 
have had some chance, or even in a desperate duel. 
But for this there is no chance. All was fixed and 
is inevitable. ' ' He probably had the same view of 
death in his old age. He disliked the thought of 
dying in his bed, for the fighting spirit remained 
strong to the last. Always a man of deep religious 
feeling and constant in his Christian duties, he now 
devoted much attention to putting his spiritual 
house in order. The end came at his Washington 
home, April 10, 1858. He had especially re- 
quested that Congress take no note of the event ; 
it did, however, adjourn and many notable men 
paid tribute to his personal and civic virtues. 

It is pleasing to note that a reaction came and 



THE EI^D 345 

the people of Missouri who had thrice in recent 
years rejected him, now did their best to atone for 
their insult and neglect. The funeral in St. Louis 
was the most notable event of its sort that has ever 
taken place beyond the Mississippi and was rivaled 
in the West only by the demonstrations over Clay 
a few years before at Lexington, and later by 
the funeral obsequies of Lincoln. Business was 
entirely suspended in St. Louis and the cortege 
was reported to be two miles long, as every sort of 
civic and military association participated. The 
body was laid at rest in Bellcfontaine Cemetery 
where his sons had already been buried with 
other members of the Benton family. The contem- 
poraneous accounts of the funeral indicate that this 
unanimous expression of grief and sympathy was 
genuine in spite of the fact that both city and state 
had so lately rejected his services. Benton's rugged 
honesty appealed to all and the funeral orations 
and addresses, of which there were many then and 
soon afterward, indicate how deep was the hold 
which Benton had upon the people whom he had 
served so long. Some of the finest tributes came 
from those who had fought him hardest in the 
political field and who were finally responsible for 
his fall. 



346 THOMAS H. BEXTON 

A handsome monument was erected in one of the 
St. Louis parks. The heroic statue surmounting it 
faces the West and the index finger points to the 
setting sun. Beneath is the inscription taken from 
one of his speeches: "There is the East: there is 
the road to India." 

Even in death and defeat Benton was a victor. 
There can be no doubt that his was the potent voice 
that held Missouri in the Union against all the 
desperate efforts to drive her into secession. There 
were those who remembered the old man eloquent, 
those who had heard him in that famous campaign 
of 1856 when he went up and down the state plead- 
ing for the Union. If Missouri had joined the 
Confederacy, the contest would have been longer 
and more difficult, though no student of history can 
believe that eventually there would have been a 
different result. Of those who in and out of season 
raised their voices against all threats or suggestions 
of disunion ; of those who loved to smite secession 
wherever it lifted its head, no man was more ardent, 
more continuous in his labors, more uncompromis- 
ing and more effectual than Benton. 

When the time came, he was found where he 
predicted he would be, — on the side of his country 
and the Union. Though his majestic soul had 



THE EKD 347 

taken flight to its Maker, his principles survived 
to conquer. 

The effort has been made in these pages to draw 
a portrait of a largely -forgotten man and to set him 
properly in his historical niche. It is likily some 
will think too much is claimed for one whose name 
has left such slight impress on the popular mind. 
But there has been no purpose in this sketch to 
magnify his virtues, or to exaggerate the services 
which he so nobly performed. In saying that he 
was the most comprehensive statesman of his time 
it is not denied that there were others who in mere 
intellectual ability were his superiors ; certainly 
there were those who exerted more direct influence 
on men in and out of politics, those whose voices 
were more forceful on many public questions. But 
Benton is to be judged not solely by what he did 
but also by what he aimed to do. We owe to him 
Oregon, California, the cheap land system that has 
enriched the country so rapidly, the specie stand- 
ard, the transcontinental railway lines, and a debt 
that can never be repaid in keeping alive the fires 
of patriotism at a time when it required tremen- 
dous self-sacrifice to renounce his party. Benton 
was the first martyr to the slavery cause since he 
was as surely struck down by the slave power as 



348 THOMAS H. BENTON 

Charles Sumner and he deserves much more sym- 
pathy than the latter, who had in a sense provoked 
the attack. 

That Benton was often too dogmatic, that there 
were occasions when he mistook stubbornness for 
principle, that he might at times have been more 
genial and less arrogant, we do not deny. These 
are the faults which show the strong human side of 
the man, though his frailties were not those of his 
age or those of most of his colleagues. They do 
not render the portrait less attractive. On the 
contrary, we can but admire the man who in turn 
was called an Apollo, a "wild buffalo," and a 
''gnarled oak," and whose career was one of sin- 
gular success and unparalleled usefulness. 

It is only fitting that a man so eminent in his 
time, whose principles for the most part are as 
sound to-day as then and the advantages of whose 
legislation we are now enjoying, should be remem- 
bered gratefully. This is neither the time nor the 
place for comparisons, but it is probable that there 
stands to-day on the statute books of the country 
more wise and sound legislation that can fairly be 
ascribed to Benton than to any other man who ever 
sat in Congress ; while his name is not connected 
with a single act of personal dishonor, or a single 



THE END 349 

unworthy piece of legislation. This is a record fit 
to be the epitaph of one of the greatest men of the 
age. 

Or, if an epitaph be needed, could a better one 
be found than the prophetic words in which he 
stated his position to Calhoun ? — 

' ' I shall be found in the right place — on the side 
of my country and the Union." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Considering how large a place Benton occupied on the 
national stage for thirty years, it is surprising that there are 80 
few books dealing directly with his career. The principal 
source of information is his own large work in two volumes 
entitled, "Thirty Years' View of the United States Senate," 
1854, et seq., and a new edition, with index, published in 1893. 
Besides this, there is but one volume devoted to Benton's life ; 
viz., Theodore Roosevelt's ''Thomas H. Benton," American 
Statesmen Series, 1886. In the same Series are several volumes 
-which contain much that bears on Benton or the political in- 
terests with which he was connected; viz., Schurz's "Clay" 
(1887) ; Von Hoist's "Calhoun" (lfc62); Stevens' "Gallatin" 
(1883) and Lothrop's '"Seward" (1896). In most volumes of 
history dealing with the period from 1820 to 1850, as well as 
in reminiscences of statesmen living at that time, there will be 
found references to Benton, but not nearly so many as one 
would suppose. This is partially accounted for by his inde- 
pendent spirit which led him to keep aloof from combinations, 
and by the fact that socially he was almost a recluse. Of the 
works consulted in preparing this volume, the following are a 
few of the more importtiut: — 

James G. Blaine. Twenty Years in Congress, 1884. 

John Quincy Adams. Diary, 1874, et seq. 

LuciEN Carr. History of Missouri, American Common- 
wealth Series, 1888. 

John Bach McMastkr. History of the People of the 
United States, 1883, et seq. 

James Parton. Life of Andrew Jackson, 1860. 

Ben: Pkrley Poore. Reminiscences, 1886. 

James Ford Rhodes. History of the United States from 
the Compromises of 1850, 1893, et seq. 

James Schoulee. History of the United States, 1880, et 
$eq. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 351 

W. F. SwiTZLER. Illustrated History of Missouri, 1879. 

Richard W. Thompson. Personal Recollections of Sixteen 
Presidents, 1894, 

H. Von Holst. Constitutional History of the United States 
(translation), 1876, et seq. 

Thurlow Weed. Autobiography, 1883, 

Henry Wise. Seven Decades of the Union, 1871, 

The above list is far from exhaustive. In addition, Niles' 
Register and the Debates of Congress have been freely con- 
sulted. There has been much recourse to political pamphlets 
and broadsides and to a very large range of literature in which 
Benton is occasionally mentioned, though not with much de- 
tail. Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont wrote a brief sketch of her 
father as an introduction to the autobiography of her husband. 
The author also desires to acknowledge the aid of Colonel 
A, K. McClure in giving not only many personal incidents but 
an historic setting of Benton, whom he well knew in the latter's 
last years. 

Note. — Just as this book was passing through the press, a 
biography of Benton by William M. Meigs appeared, and ac- 
knowledgment is made for the use of a few personal incidents 
ooncerning him, not elsewhere pabliahed. 



INDEX 



Aberdeen, Lord, on slavery, 
'22(J. 

Abolitionists, radical views 
of, 213; hated by Benton, 
214; mentioned, 220 ; ap- 
prove of Lord Aberdeen's 
letter, 22t) ; attacked by 
Benton, 339. 

Adams, John Quincy, candi- 
date for presidency, 41 ; 
elected, 57 ; on compromise 
tai'iff, 124 ; supports bank, 
141 ; on Arkansas' admis- 
sion, 219 ; on right of peti- 
tion, 220 ; Benton's eulogy 
on, 289. 

Alabama, admitted with 
slavery, 30. 

Alabama Letters, The, 311. 

Ancestry of Thomas H. Ben- 
ton, 15. 

Anti-Masonrj', opposed by 
Benton, 305, 

Anti-slavery societies, friends 
in, 212. 

Arkansas, territory orjjanized 
with slavery, 30; admitted 
as a state, 218. 

Army service of Benton, 21. 

A.shburton, Lord, makes treaty 
with Webster, 194. 

Atchison, David, senator, 267; 
opposes Benton, 275, 327. 

Banks, jjeneral suspension of 
in 1837, 179. 



Bank-note currency (state), 
depreciation of, 174. 

Bank of the United States, see 
National Bank. 

Barton, David, elected sena- 
tor, 35. 

Benton, Ann Gooch, mother 
of Thomas, 16 ; educates 
Thomas, 16; removes to 
Tennessee, 17 ; establish- 
ment of, 17 ; loses five chil- 
dren, 18. 

Benton, children of Thomas 
H., 302. 

Benton, Jesse, father of 
Thomas. 15 ; death of, 16 ; 
friend of Daniel Boone, 35. 

Benton, Jesse, brother of 
Thomas, quarrel with Jack- 
son, 22 ; love of Thoma.s for, 
304. 

Benton, Jessie, marries John 
C. Fremont, 209; poverty 
of, 300. 

Benton, Thomas H., family 
tree, 15 ; ancestry, 15 ; 
birth, 16; father dies, 16; 
education of, 16, 17; his 
love of music, 18, 299 ; 
cured of consumption, 18, 
19 ; cotton planter, 19 ; first 
meets Jackson, 20; writes 
address for Jackson, 21 ; 
aide-de-camp to Jackson, 
20; colonel, 20; goes to 
Canada in regular army, 



INDEX 



353 



21 ; quarrel with Jackson, 

22 ; removes to St. Louis, 
22 ; legislative experience in 
Tennessee, 23 ; edits En- 
quirer, 23 ; law practice, 23 ; 
habits, 24 ; duel with Lucas, 
25 ; as an editor, 26 ; sena- 
torial election, 35 ; defends 
unrestricted slavery in Mis- 
souri, 38 ; enters senate, 39 ; 
marries Elizabeth McDow- 
ell, 39 ; early senatorial 
experience, 45 ; financial 
and laud policy of, 46 ; 
views ou Texas, 48 ; views 
on Oregon, 49 ; views on 

. salt monopoly, 51 ; views 
on internal improvements, 
52 ; supports Clay for presi- 
dent in 1824-5, 53 ; recon- 
ciled to Jackson, 56 ; sup- 
ports Jackson for presidency, 
56; did not believe "cor- 
rupt bargain ' ' story, 59 ; 
rebuked by King, 59 ; views 
on Monroe Doctrine, 62 ; 
discusses the Haiti question, 
64 ; conduct in duel be- 
tween Chi}^ and Randolph, 
64 ; as Jacksou's right arm, 
68 ; as a civil service re- 
former, 71 ; against oflfice- 
seeking relatives, 71; 
against West Point, 72 ; 
first views of nullification, 
73 ; opposes the Foot Reso- 
lution, 84; reply to Web- 
ster, 86; opposes Webster's 
views in reply to Hayne, 
95 ; at nullification dinner, 
99 ; declines cabinet port- 
folio, 101 ; fights the tri- 
umvirate, 105 ; supports 
Van Buren, 106 ; writes to 



Van Buren, 107; opposes 
the compromise UuiS of 
1833, 125 ; loyalty to the 
Union, 133; wars on na- 
tional bunk, 135 ; attacks 
Clay and Webster on bank 
policy, 142; replies to Clay 
concerning Jackson matter, 
146 ; stari.s expunging cam- 
paign, 157 ; secures passage 
of resolution, 160; attacked 
by roughs, 161 ; writes for 
the Globe, 167 ; specie stand- 
ard secured, 172; prepares 
specie circular, 175 ; defends 
Jacksou's policy, 180; re- 
pulsed by Van Buren, 180 ; 
blames bank for panic, 181 ; 
opposes laud surplus distri- 
bution, 189 ; favors fortifi- 
cations, 191 ; mentioned for 
presidency, 1 92 ; ou Caro- 
line affair, 195 ; on slave 
trade su ppressi on, 196; 
" watch-dog of the treas- 
ury," 197; views on electric 
telegraph and railways, 197; 
dislikes Gushing, 198 ; on 
Oregon boundary, 206 ; 
views on slavery agitation, 
212 ; opposes Calhoun's fed- 
eral mail bill regarding 
abolition newspapers. 214 ; 
against slavery agitation, 
215 ; opposes Texas annex- 
ation, 225 ; favors Walker 
compromise, 228 ; opposes 
Wilmot Proviso, 233 ; his 
Mexican War policy, 237 ; 
nominated lieutenant-gen- 
eral, 238 ; not confirmed but 
made major-general, 239 ; 
supports Cass, 243 ; remains 
iu Washington during sena- 



364 



INDEX 



torial fight in Missouri, 246 ; 
supports Califoruia'a claims, 
250 ; opposes Clay's Com- 
promises of 1850, 253 ; al- 
tercation with Clay, 261 ; 
assaulted by Foote, 261 ; 
supports Taylor, 261; op- 
poses protest of radical 
slavery men, 265 ; estab- 
lishes pony express and 
telegraph and favors trans- 
continental railway, 269 ; 
Missouri drifts from Ben- 
ton, 275 ; he opposes Jack- 
son resolutions, 276 ; Cal- 
houn's slur on Benton and 
reply, 276 ; defeated for 
sixth term, 277; elected to 
House, 277; opposes Know 
Nothings, 278; opposes re- 
peal of Missouri Compro- 
mise, 280 ; his speeches in 
the House, 281 ; talk with 
Randolph, 283; advice from 
King, 284; visit to Jeffer- 
son, 284 ; regard for Macon, 
284 ; relations with Jack- 
son, 285 ; dislike for public 
dinners, 286 ; visit to Clay, 
286; relations with Web- 
ster, 288; relations with 
Clay, 294 ; opposes payment 
of state debts, 298 ; uses up 
fortune, 300 ; some character- 
istics of, 301 ; death of sons, 
marriage of daughters, 302 ; 
his love for the West, and 
especially for Oregon, 307 ; 
views on Texas annexation, 
310 ; his egotism, 315 ; his 
scholarship, 316 ; literary 
work, 322 ; weak throat, 
328 ; extracts from his 
speeches, 330 ; last years. 



343 ; religious views, 343 ; 

death, 344; funeral, 345; 

final estimate of, 346. 
Bell, John, a senator, 249. 
Berrien, John M., a senator, 

249. 
Biddle, Nicholas, president of 

National Bank, 150 ; attacks 

Jackson, 153, 
Blair, Francis P., edits the 

Globe, 103. 
Boone, son of Daniel, nomi- 
nates Benton for senate, 35. 
Buchanan, James, mentioned, 

200; Benton's relations 

with, 290. 
Butler, Andrew P., a senator, 

249. 

Canadian Boundary, dis- 
cussed, 194. 

Calhoun, John C, candidate 
for presidency, 41 ; vice- 
president, 65 ; nullification 
views of, 73 ; change in po- 
litical views of, 75 ; aspires 
to presidency, 81 ; defends 
nullification, 99 ; war on by 
Jackson, 101, 104 ; opposes 
tariff of 1832, 117 ; agrees to 
compromise, 123 ; attacks 
Van Buren, 216 ; works for 
Texas annexation, 224 ; re- 
ply to Lord Aberdeen, 226 ; 
last appearance in the Sen- 
ate, 247 ; last speech, 257 ; 
death, 260 ; reference to, 
250, 251, 264. 323, 324 ; at- 
tacks Benton, 276. 

California, explored bj' Fre- 
mont, 240 ; applies for ad- 
mission, 245 ; Benton favors 
admission of, 250, 252 ; ad- 
mitted, 264. 



INDEX 



355 



Caroline Affair, 195. 

Carroll, General William, duel 
with Jesse Benton, 22, 
303. 

Cass, Lewis, presidential can- 
didate, 243 ; a senator, 249. 

Chase, Salmon P., mentioned, 
248. 

Chicago desires railway ter- 
minus, 273. 

Cilley, Jonathan, see Graves- 
Cilley duel. 

Clay, Henry, presidential can- 
didate, 43 ; quarrels with 
Adams, 43 ; favored by Ben- 
ton for president, 55; re- 
lated by marriage to Benton, 
55 ; supports Adams, 57 ; 
Secretary of State, 57 ; 
"corrupt bargain" story, 
57 ; supported by Benton, 
59; duel with Randolph, 
64 ; supports Adams, 65 ; 
effects Compromise of 
1832-3, 121 ; summoned by 
Webster to Senate, 138 ; de- 
preciates Benton, 138 ; bank 
policy of, 142 ; attacks Ben- 
ton, 145 ; secures Senate 
censure of Jackson, 155 ; 
attacks Jackson 's pocket 
veto of land surplus bill, 
187 ; favors land surplus dis- 
tribution, 187 ; loses nomina- 
tion in 1840, 193 ; loses nom- 
ination in 1848, 242 ; last 
election to the Senate, 247 ; 
Compromises of 1850, 252 ; 
last great orations, 252 ; al- 
tercation with Benton, 261 ; 
disgust over failure of first 
attempt at Compromises of 
1850, 264 ; likes dinners, 
286; Benton's relations 



with, 294; the Raleigh and 
Alabama letters of, 310. 

Clay, James B., Benton pre- 
vents duel of, 293. 

Clayton, John M., senator, 
part in Compromise of 1833, 
130. 

Clayton, of Georgia, repre- 
sentative, supports Benton, 
139. 

Cobb, Howell, elected speaker, 
246. 

Compromises, Missouri, 33; 
of 1832-3, 122; of 1850, 
255 (whole chapter) ; see 
also Missouri Compromise. 

Consumption, Benton's cure 
for, 18. 

"Corrupt Bargain," origin of 
phrase, 57. 

Corwin, Thomas, mentioned, 
248. 

Cotton in politics, 75, 112. 

Cotton planting in Tennessee, 
19. 

Crawford, William H,, candi- 
date for presidency, 41, 42 ; 
land policy of, 47. 

Gushing, Caleb, disliked by 
Benton, 198. 



Davis. Jefferson, on nulli- 
fication, 76 ; a senator, 248 ; 
on extension of Mi-ssouri 
Compromise, 265. 

Davis, John, a senator, 249. 

Distribution of land surplus, 
see Land Surplus. 

Dodge, Augustus Caesar, a 
senator, 249. 

Dodge, Henry, a senator, 249. 

Douglas, Stephen A., men- 
tioned, 248. 



356 



INDEX 



Dred Scott Decision, Benton's 
hook on, 3;.'6. 

Duane, William J., Secretary 
of Treasury, 150 ; dismissed, 
152. 

Duels, Jesse Benton and Jack- 
son, 22; Thonuis H. Ben- 
ton with Lucas, 2r> ; between 
Clay and Kaudolph, 64 ; 
Benton's views on, apropos 
of Graves-Ciiley meeting, 
292 ; prevents James B. 
Clay from lighting a duel, 
293. 

Eaton, Mrs. John H., so- 
cially ostracized. 100. 

Enquirer, The Missouri, edited 
l)y Benton, 2:i, 327. 

Expunging Kesolution, intro- 
duced, 157 ; passed, 160. 

Faneuil Hall, Benton 
speaks in, 328. 

Fenian outbreak, mentioned, 
195. 

" Fifty -four Forty or Fight," 
canii)aign slogan, 205. 

Fillmore, Millard, president, 
263. 

Foote, Henry S., as.saults Ben- 
ton. 261. 

Foot Kesolution debated and 
buried, 83-98, 336. 

Foot. Senator, offers resolution 
concerning land sales, 83. 

Force Bill, passed, 133. 

Fremont, John C, marries 
Jessie Benton, 209 ; explo- 
rations of, 211 ; in Cali- 
fornia, 240 ; a senator, 263 ; 
tells Benton about Orejion, 
272; reputed wealth, 300. 



Friends, The, in anti-slavery 
work. 212. 

Fugitive Slave Law, intro- 
duced by Clay, 252. 

Funeral of Benton, 345. 

Globe, The, administration or- 
gan, 103; written for by 
Benton, 167, 327. 

Gold Standard, see Specie 
Standard. 

Gravcs-Cilley duel described, 
292. 

Green, Duff, editor of the 
Telegraph, 103. 

Habits of Thomas H. Benton, 
24. 

Haiti, our relations with, 63, 
332. 

Hale, John P., a senator, 249. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, a senator, 
249. 

Harrison, William Henry, in 
army, 20 ; elected pre.sident, 
193; dies, 194. 

Hart, Colonel Thomas, uncle 
of Benton's mother, 296. 

Hartford Convention, men- 
tioned, 89. 

Hayne, Robert, mentioned, 
73 ; speech on Foot Ke.solu- 
tion, 87 ; relations with 
Benton, 287, 338. 

Houston, Samuel, corporal 
under Benton, 21 ; in Texas, 
222 ; a senator, 248 ; op- 
poses Compromises of 1860, 
263. 

Hunter, Robert M. T., a sen- 
ator, 249. 

Indian Trail, near Benton 
settlement, 17. 



INDEX 



367 



Internal improvements, Ben- 
ton's view of, 50-54 ; men- 
tioned in letter to Vaai 
Bureu, 108. 

Jackson, Axdeew, Benton's 
first meeting with, liO ; 
elected major-general of mi- 
litia, 20 ; quarrel with Jesse 
and Thomas Benton, 22 ; 
candidate for president, 43 ; 
elected to the Senate, 55 ; 
reconciled to lien ton, 56 ; 
elected president, 65 ; sup- 
ported bj' Benton, 68 ; re- 
tains General Miller, 70 ; 
some characteristics of, 74 ; 
disconcerts Calhoun and the 
nullifiers, 99 ; war on Cal- 
houn, 101 ; against nulli- 
fication, 119 ; threat to hang 
Calhoun, TiO ; pocket vetoes 
land surplus bill, 133 ; lights 
the National Bank, 134 (all 
of chapter) ; vetoes bank re- 
charter, 144 ; signs tariff 
bill, 144 ; has deposits re- 
moved from National Bank, 
152 ; censured by Senate, 
155 ; signs specie circular, 
175 ; retires, 178 ; favors 
Texas annexation, 225 ; re- 
lations with Benton, 285. 

Jackson, Claiborne F., reso- 
lutions of. 276, 313. 

Jefferson, Thomas, Benton's 
visit to, 284. 

Johnson, Richard M., on bank 
committee, 141. 

Kansas City, future pre- 
dicted by Benton, 273. 

Kendall, Amos P., in Kitchen 
Cabinet, 151. 



King, Rufus, advice to Ben- 
ton, 59 ; remarks on mon- 
archy, 2U6. 

King, William R., a senator, 
249. 

Kitchen Cabinet, of Jackson, 
101. 

Know Nothings, opposed by 
Benton, 278, 281, 305. 

Kremer, Congressman, charges 
Clay with "corrupt bar- 
gain," 68. 

Land sales, favored by Ben- 
ton, 46 ; opposed by New 
England, 82 ; speculation in 
with depreciated currency, 
174 ; cheap prices for, 185. 

Land surplus distribution, 
mentioned, 68 ; pocket ve- 
toed, 132, 187 ; passed, 189. 

Land survey, importance of, 
84, 

LeDuc, Marie Philip, supports 
Benton, .36. 

Lewis and Clark expedition, 
29. 

Lincoln, Abraham, mentioned, 
249, 

Liud, Jenny, Benton goes to 
hear, 299. 

Linn, Dr.. senator from Mis- 
souri. 308. 

Literary works of Benton, 
322. 

Lucas, Charles, killed by 
Benton in duel, 25, 

Macon, Nathaniel, friend 

of Benton, 60, 284, 
Madison, James, on National 

Bank, 171 ; on secession, 

221. 



358 



INDEX 



Maine, admitted as a free 
State, 33 ; frontier dispute, 
194. 

Mason, James M., a senator, 
249. 

Massachusetts, defended by 
AVebster, 93. 

McDowell, Elizabeth, marries 
Thomas H. Benton, 39. 

McDuffie. Chairman, favors 
bank, 140. 

Mexican War, 231 (whole 
chapter) ; Benton's policy 
on, 237. 

Mexico, position as to Texas, 
227. 

Michigan admitted, 218. 

Miller. General, retained by 
Jackson, 70. 

Mintage laws, new, secured by 
Benton, 172. 

Mississippi River, improve- 
ment of favored by Benton, 
52. 

Missouri Compromise, passed, 
33 ; attacked by Calhoun, 
126 ; attempt to extend, 
264 ; repeal of, 279. 

Missouri, early history of, 28 ; 
contest over admission, 30 ; 
early popialation of, 33 ; 
Benton's view of, 34 ; boun- 
daries extended, 217 ; on 
the slavery issue, 276 ; hon- 
ors Benton in death, 344. 

Mis.souri Kiver, improvement 
of favored by Benton. 52. 

Monroe Doctrine, Adams's 
views on, 62 ; Benton's 
views on, 62. 

Monroe, James, president, 40. 

Nashvillk, Tenn,, men- 
tioned, 17 ; bar of, 19. 



National Bank, mentioned, 
68, 108; Jackson's war on, 
134 (all of chapter) ; re- 
charter vetoed, 144 ; de- 
posits removed, 152 ; fails, 
163; recharter and panic, 
179 ; Benton's description of 
its downfall, 34(i. 

Negro, see Slavery. 

New England, dissatisfaction 
over defeat of Adams, 66 ; 
emigration from, 82 ; op- 
poses land sales, 83 ; in War 
of 1812. 89; thrift in, 113. 

New Mexico, road to advo- 
cated by Benton, 48 ; as a 
territory, 251, 252. 

North Carolina, birthplace of 
Benton, 16. 

Nullification, mentioned, 68; 
Benton's first contact with, 
73 ; called absurd by Jeffer- 
son Davis, 76 ; Hayne's 
speeches on, and Webster's 
reply, 87-95; upheld by 
Calhoun, 99 ; in South Car- 
olina, 111. 118; opposed by 
Jackson, 119. 

"Old Bullion," nickname 

of Benton, 169, 177. 
" Old Humbug," nickname of 

Btnton, 184. 
Oregon, Benton's views on, 

48 ; boundary dispute, 195 ; 

negotiations over, 205. 

Panama Congre-ss, discussed 

in Senate, 61. 
Panic of 1837, described, 179. 
"Peacemaker," explosion of 

gun, 201. 
Pierce, Franklin, president, 

280. 



INDEX 



359 



Pooket veto of land surplus 
distribution by Jackson, 
133, 187. 

Polk, James K., nominated, 
205 ; on Oregon, 206 ; on 
Texas annexation, 229 ; war 
message, 235 ; adopts Ben- 
ton's policy, 237. 

Princeton, The, U. S. S., Ben- 
ton injured on, 201. 

Railways, Benton's views 
on in relation to war, 197 ; 
and to trans-contiuental 
railway plans, 269, 274. 

Raleigh Letter, The, 310. 

Randolph, John, furnishes 
Benton family tree, 15 ; duel 
with Clay, 64 ; friendship 
of Benton for, 283. 

Recharter of National Bank, 
see National Bank. 

Right of Petition, Adams' 
battle for, 219. 

St. Louis, Benton removes to, 
22; branch bank at, 149, 
210; desires railway termi- 
nus, 273; monument to 
Benton in, 346. 

Salt, Benton against monopoly 
of, 51. 

Santa Anna, General, negoti- 
ations with, 232. 

Scott, Winfield, mentioned, 
21 ; in South Carolina, 120 ; 
in Mexican War, 237, 240 ; 
defeated for presidency, 280. 

Secession, talked of, 221, 

Senate, U. S., Benton elected 
to, 36 ; re-elections, 37, 

Seward, W. H., a senator, 
248. 



Shields, Jamea, a senator, 249. 

Slavery, in Missouri, 38; de- 
fended by Benton, 38; 
gradual emancipation fa- 
vored by Benton, 79; op- 
posed to slavery, 256, 298. 

Slavery in politics, 75, 116; 
connection with Texas an- 
nexation, 212 ; as to seces- 
sion, 221; Lord Aberdeen's 
views, and Calhoun's reply, 
226. 

Slaves, owned by Mrs. Ben- 
ton, 17; Benton gets jury 
trial for in Tennessee, 23; 
Southern view of, 78. 

Slave Trade, Benton's views 
on, 196; in District of Co- 
lumbia, 251, 252; speech 
on, 339. 

Somers, alleged mutiny on, in- 
vestigated by Benton, 305, 

Soul^, Pierre, a senator, 249, 

South Carolina, praised by 
Webster, 93; passes ordi- 
nance of nullification, 118, 
214, 

Specie Circular, written by 
Benton. 175, 180. 

Specie standard, mentioned, 
68 ; favored by Benton, 169, 
178. 

Spencer, see Somers. 

Sumner, Charles, welcomed by 
Benton, 279 ; mentioned, 
348, 

Taney, Rogke B,, removes 
deposits. 152 ; triumvirate 
defeat and confirmation of 
appointment as Secretary of 
the Treasury, 159. 

Tappan, Arthur, dines with 
negroes (as reported), 80. 



360 



INDEX 



Tariff, mentioned, 68, 108; in 
nuUificiition affair, 111; 
compromise tariff, r_'3; tar- 
iff of 1832, signed by Jack- 
son, 144 ; vetoed by Tyler, 
199. 

Taylor, Zacharv, mentioned, 
21. 132; in Mexican War, 
23.5 ; candidate for pre.si- 
dency, 238 ; president, 255 ; 
death, 263. 

Telegraph, The, official organ, 
102. 

Telegraph, electric, Benton's 
views on, 197- 

Tennes.see, lands in, owned by 
Jesse Benton, 16 ; carried 
by Whigs, 193. 

Texas, Benton's views on loss 
of, 48 ; Calhoun's early po- 
sition as to, 127 ; agitation 
over slavery, 212 ; Houston 



in, 2 



ooq 



annexation sug- 



gested, 223 ; rumor that 
Great Britain desired it, 
224 ; claimed by Mexico, 
227 ; Walker's compromise, 
229 ; action of Tyler on, 230; 
claims to territory, 251, 252; 
Benton's views on in 1844, 
310. 

Triumvirate, mentioned, 68, 
105, 157, 158, 160, 247, 281. 

Tryon, Governor, mentioned, 
15. 

Tyler, John, becomes presi- 
dent, 194 ; sujiported liy 
Benton, 199; defeated for 
nomination, 204 ; on Texas 
annexation. 230 ; views on 
Oregon, 308. 

Union, The, Democratic news- 
paper, 208, 



Utah, in Compromises of 1850, 
251, 252, 264. 

Van Bdbex, Maktin, men- 
tioned, 68 ; as Secretary of 
State kind to Mrs. Eaton, 
100 ; sent to England as 
Minister, 101 ; oppoi?ed by 
triumvirate, 105 ; Vice- 
President, 107 ; snubs Ben- 
ton, 179; president, 179; 
defeated for re-election, 193 ; 
defeated for nomination, 
204 ; trick played on by 
triumvirate, 216; Free Soil 
candidate, 243; Benton's 
fondness for, 288. 

Walker, Senator, Compro- 
mise on Texa.s, 228. 

Webb, James Watson, chal- 
lenges Cilley, 292. 

Webster, Daniel, speech on 
Foot Resolution, and reply 
to Hayne, 85, 8^95; op- 
poses Compromise of 1832-3, 
125 ; favors National Bank, 
138 ; writes to Clay to come 
to Senate, 138; modified 
bank bill, l.">8; dealings 
with Lord Ashburton, 194; 
in Supreme Court practice, 
247; Seventh of March 
Speech, 260 ; relations with 
Benton, 288 ; attitude in 
Oregon case, 308. 

W^est Point Academy, opposed 
by Benton. 72. 197. 

Whig Party, oppose-s Jackson's 
policy. 179; carries Tennes- 
see, 193; elects Harrison 
president, 193. 

W^hite, Hugh L., a senator, 
289. 



INDEX 361 

Whitman, Marcus, trip to never passed, 241 ; proviso 

Washington, 308. mentioned, 251. 

Wilmot, David, member of Winchester, General, in army, 

Congress offers proviso, 233 ; 20. 



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